A convicted felon has been charged with brandishing a firearm during a shootout that left five victims wounded at a large gathering at the lakefront beach in North Chicago.
The North Chicago Police Department and North Chicago Fire Department responded around 4:23 a.m. Saturday to Foss Park Beach, 35 Lakeview Drive in North Chicago, for a report of a shooting.
A 911 call was received for multiple people shot at the lakefront, according to fire department radio traffic.
Officers arrived and searched the area but were unable to find any victims at the scene.
It was later learned that at least two shooting victims self-transported to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan.
Police officials told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that it was later determined that five people had been shot in total.
The victims drove themselves to area hospitals for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.
The victims were four men and a woman. They ranged from their 20s to 30s.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Theis said that multiple vehicles were observed fleeing the area and people were running when officers first arrived.
Witnesses told police that a party had started at a bar in Waukegan and that the establishment was closing.
Theis said approximately 60-80 people moved to the lakefront to continue partying.
Witnesses heard approximately 20 shots fired and multiple people ended up being shot, Theis said.
One of the vehicles that fled the area was a black 2021 Nissan Sentra, which was caught on video surveillance.
The video showed a subject, later identified as Demetrius Pitts, 27, of Waukegan, getting out of the Nissan with a handgun, Theis said.
Theis said Pitts went out of the video frame and a few seconds later people were seen running.
Pitts entered the camera’s view again and ducked down behind the Nissan before getting back into the vehicle and driving away, Theis said.
A witness reported that a male subject by a dark four-door car was shooting and another person, who was wearing a red ski mask, also started shooting.
The Nissan struck a traffic cone as it fled. Officers tracked the vehicle and went to a residence where they found the Nissan parked in the driveway.
The vehicle had a mark on the bumper that matched where it struck the cone as it fled the lakefront, Theis said.
Pitts was also at the residence and officers identified him as the subject in the video.
Pitts was arrested and charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a repeat felony offender, a Class X felony, and felon in possession of a weapon enhanced, a Class 2 felony.
He has not been charged with firing the gun but the North Chicago Police Department said the investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the police department at 847-596-8741.
Pitts was transported to the Lake County Jail and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain him pending trial.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Savannah Halcomb said Pitts has a “relatively extensive” criminal history.
Pitts has a conviction for aggravated domestic battery in 2019 and his probation was revoked in 2022.
He also has a conviction from 2022 for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, Pitts said. He was paroled a year ago.
“The defendant is a danger to the community. Not only has the defendant previously been convicted of possessing a weapon after he was a felon but now he is again caught possessing a firearm at a location where there was a shooting and multiple people were shot,” Theis said.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition to detain after agreeing with prosecutors that Pitts poses a danger.
Pitts is scheduled to appear in court again on July 22 for a preliminary hearing.