Three police officers were attacked by a gang member who threatened to send Latin King gang members to kill them and was found with a machine gun, as well as an AR-15, in Mundelein.
The Mundelein Police Department received a complaint of a driver who was possibly under the influence on April 5.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Eryka Jones said the 911 caller reported they saw a car swerving and the driver, who was later identified as Roberto Duarte-Arcos, 21, of Mundelein, had stopped.
The caller said the driver stumbled out of his vehicle and was pumping gas at the Marathon gas station, 1080 West Maple Avenue in Mundelein.
Officers arrived and found Duarte-Arcos’ vehicle parked at the pumps still, Jones said.
Officers saw that Duarte-Arcos was the driver and there were two teenage juvenile passengers in the car.
Officers smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Duarte-Arcos’ breath and asked for his driver’s license but Duarte-Arcos gave them his credit card, Jones said.
Duarte-Arcos was believed to be under the influence and asked to step out of the car for further investigation.
Jones said Duarte-Arcos underwent field sobriety testing and showed multiple clues of impairment.
Officers attempted to place Duarte-Arcos under arrest for driving under the influence but he began tensing up and pulling away.
The officers took Duarte-Arcosto to the ground and he punched one of the officers in the face with a closed fist, Jones said.
He proceeded to kick and thrash around and threatened to spit on the officers so they placed a spit hood on him and were able to get him into the squad car, Jones said.
Duarte-Arcos allegedly continued to hit and kick the seats inside the squad car.
A search of the Duarte-Arcos’ vehicle revealed an AR-15 on the front passenger floorboard.
The AR-15 was fully loaded with one in the chamber and was directly accessible to Duarte-Arcos, Jones said.
Officers also found a backpack that contained a Glock, which was fully loaded with one in the chamber and had an extended magazine.
The Glock had an autosear device, also known as a “switch” modifier, rendering it fully automatic, Jones said.
The Glock’s magazine had Latin King markings on it. A third gun, a Springfield handgun, was found in the backpack.
It was fully loaded with a round in the chamber. Jones said the gun uses .45 ammo and officers previously found .45 ammo in the center console of the car.
Officers transported Duarte-Arcos to the police station for booking and multiple officers helped put him in a restraint chair.
An officer was strapping him down to the chair when he head-butted the officer on the left cheekbone, bit a second officer on the right forearm and twisted a third officer’s left thumb, Jones said.
Duarte-Arcos told the officers that he would have the Latin Kings and the Latin Counts find out where the officers live and kill them and their families, Jones said.
“The defendant did not simply spew out general threats. He specifically called Officer [name] a race traitor and told Officer [name] that he’ll find her kids and kill them,” Jones said.
“The Officers reasonably and fairly believe that this defendant’s threats to their lives and their family’s lives were serious, due to this defendant being a member of the Latin Kings,” Jones said.
Duarte-Arcos has the gang-affiliated tattoos on his body and the Glock magazine found in the car had Latin King markings.
He does not have a Firearm Owner’s Identification card or concealed carry license.
Jones said one officer had a large welt on her left eyebrow and a bruise on her left cheekbone, a second had a bite mark on his arm and a third officer’s left thumb was bruised and swollen.
Duarte-Arcos was charged with possession of a machine gun, four counts of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, three counts of aggravated battery of a police officer, three counts of threatening a public official and three counts of resisting arrest causing injury.
“This Court should detain the defendant for the safety of the overall community and for the safety of the victims that he blatantly threatened,” Jones said.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Duarte-Arcos pending trial and Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the request, noting that the man has a history of weapons offenses.
Duarte-Arcos is scheduled to appear in court again on July 9 for a case management conference.