Police say two juveniles have been charged after a shooting involving multiple gunmen that led to a SWAT team conducting a search warrant at a residence in Waukegan.
The Waukegan Police Department responded around 5:10 p.m. on September 9 to 911 calls of shots fired in the 800 block of South McAlister Avenue.
The 911 callers reported hearing 5-7 gunshots in the area before seeing four suspects flee the area, according to Waukegan Deputy Police Chief Craig Neal.
The callers stated two of the suspects were wearing masks covering their faces and one was holding a firearm.
Neal said officers responded to the area and located a crime scene, which consisted of six .45 caliber shell casings, three .40 caliber shell casings and one fired copper projectile lying in the roadway.
No one was reported to be injured in the shooting.
Officers located two suspects matching the description of the offenders in the area and engaged in a foot pursuit.
Officers were able to apprehend the two suspects and learned they were both juveniles, Nealsaid.
Officers also located a Smith and Wesson Bodyguard .380 caliber firearm on one of the juvenile suspects.
The recovered firearm had been reported stolen out of Georgia.
Neal said the juvenile suspect in possession of the firearm was charged with aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, aggravated discharge of a firearm and possession of a stolen firearm.
The juvenile was transferred to the Robert W. Depke Juvenile Complex Center in Vernon Hills.
The other juvenile involved was released to their parents at the Waukegan Police Department pending further investigation.
Investigators later developed information that a suspect involved in the shooting retreated into a house in the 800 block of South McAlister Avenue, Neal said.
The Waukegan Police Department SWAT team leadership contacted the Lake County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team leadership on September 12.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said Waukegan police informed the Lake County Sheriff’s Office that they had obtained a search warrant and were going to conduct a SWAT operation.
The search warrant was to search a residence for crime-related evidence at the McAlister Avenue residence.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Waukegan Police Department, which have a joint SWAT team, conducted the warrant around 6:15 p.m. on September 12.
The SWAT team conducted an initial entry into the home and ensured the scene was secure, Covelli said.
Two canine units were also at the scene and officers shut down McAlister Avenue to traffic during the incident.
Covelli said the SWAT team then turned over the scene to the Waukegan Police Department so they could further their criminal investigation.
Neal said there was nothing of evidentiary value to the shooting investigation located inside the home.
The suspect who retreated into the house was later identified as a juvenile and charged with aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
The juvenile was transferred to the Robert W. Depke Juvenile Complex Center in Vernon Hills.
The two juvenile suspects have not been publicly identified in accordance with Illinois law and Craig said the incident remains under investigation.
The incident occurred in a high-crime area of Waukegan that has seen many incidents in the past, including a 15-year-old boy being shot on the same block in August 2023 and a child accidentally shooting himself in May 2024.
The accidental shooting occurred at the same house as the search warrant on September 12.
In November, a SWAT operation occurred on the same block to arrest a gunman who shot his co-worker numerous times, leaving him critically injured, at a shopping center in Vernon Hills.