Wauconda man gets 10 years in prison for McHenry shooting

A 23-year-old Wauconda man was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for shooting in the direction of someone at a McHenry home last year, an incident leading to a lengthy police standoff that ended only when members of a SWAT team forced their way into the residence.

Scott A. Gallagher, of the 26700 block of Slocum Lake Road, pleaded guilty in November to a charge of aggravated discharge of a firearm stemming from the Jan. 24, 2008, incident in which witnesses told police he became angry inside the McHenry home, waved a handgun around, punched a woman in the face and fired two shots into a garage near where others were present.

As part of the November plea deal, McHenry County prosecutors dismissed charges of battery and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon filed in connection with the standoff. Gallagher, authorities said, was on parole at the time, having recently completed a 5-year sentence for burglarizing a home in Island Lake.

Police from McHenry initially responded to the incident as a noise complaint, but once officers learned the situation inside the home in the 3500 block of West Vine Street, they cordoned off the area and sought assistance from a SWAT team.

After Gallagher did not respond to efforts to contact him by phone and loudspeaker, SWAT officers entered the home and arrested him without incident.