Ingleside man arrested on gun charges

An Ingleside man has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon after brandishing a pistol at a person who was trying to pick a fight with him, Lake County Sheriff’s police officials said Wednesday.

Miguel Gonzalez, 21, of the 2600 block of Lakeview Lane, was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon late Tuesday night for showing the motorist the handle of the gun, Lt. Christopher Thompson said.

Bond information for Gonzalez was unavailable, Thompson said.

Contrary to initial police reports, Gonzalez was not attempting to rob the motorist, but instead was avoiding the physical confrontation with the driver of the vehicle, Thompson said.

Police were called about 7:14 p.m. Tuesday with the report of an attempted armed robbery at Rollins Road and Blackhawk Lane in Ingleside.

Thompson said the confrontation actually started about 7 p.m. when the unidentified driver saw Gonzalez and two friends talking at the corner.

The driver slowed his vehicle and started to harass Gonzalez and his friends in an attempt to pick a fight with the three people, Thompson said, but they told the driver to keep moving and leave them alone.

“But, the driver refused to cooperate and continued to try and get them to fight,” Thompson said. “At that point, Gonzalez displayed the wood handle of the handgun to the driver of the vehicle and told him to leave them alone.”

Thompson said the other two people with him were unaware he had the handgun.

After seeing the gun, the driver went to the end of Blackhawk, did a U-turn, and came back and confronted the men again, Thompson said. The passenger of the car phoned the sheriff’s office to tell them about the gun.

Officers and deputies from Fox Lake, Round Lake Heights, and Lake County responded to the call, Thompson said.

When Gonzalez heard the sirens, he fled on foot, Thompson said, but sheriff deputies saw Gonzalez throw the gun into some roadside vegetation before trying to escape.

He was captured by police and the 22-caliber gun was recovered, Thompson said.

During questioning, the driver of the car told officers that Gonzalez and his two friends were attempting to rob him at gunpoint, leaving out the fact the driver tried to pick a fight with them, Thompson said.

“It turned out that statement was untrue,” he said. “It was actually the driver of the car that tried to instigate a fight, but Gonzalez and the other two wanted no part of it.”

Thompson said deputies are reviewing the case and charges could be filed against the driver of the car.

No one was injured and no shots were ever fired, he said.