Cops: Man who fire bombed Algonquin store once worked there
The man who tossed a Molotov cocktail into a crowd at an Algonquin grocery store, used to work there, police confirmed Monday.
Fabian J. Torres, 24, of Sleepy Hollow, is being held on $2 million bail for aggravated arson, authorities said. At the same time, police are not releasing any information about Torres' employment history at Joe Caputo & Sons Fruit Market, including whether he left the store on his own accord.
If found guilty, Torres could face a prison sentence of between six and 30 years on the Class X felony charge, said Philip Hiscock of the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office. Probation is not allowed.
Torres is now in the McHenry County jail and needs to post $200,000 cash to get out while his case is pending. He is due to appear in court Friday.
Hiscock said aggravated arson is the only charge Torres faces thus far, but police are still investigating his Sunday afternoon attack and other charges may be pending. The homemade incendiary device started a fire and injured one man, who was later treated and released on the scene.
At about 12:15 p.m. Sunday, Torres entered the Algonquin store at 100 S. Randall Road, sprinted down an aisle and threw his flammable device into a crowd of about 30 people near the deli department, Algonquin Deputy Police Chief Ed Urban said.
Torres is an ex-employee from that particular store, but couldn't say how long he'd worked there, what he did, when he left the store and whether he'd been fired, Algonquin Deputy Chief Steve Kuzynowski said.
After the attack, Thom Petrouski, a 40-year-old Crystal Lake man shopping at the store, chased Torres and caught him outside the store. An off-duty Carpentersville police officer assisted Petrouski before Algonquin police and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms stepped in, police said.
Meanwhile, the store reopened for business Monday, but the scope of the damage from the fire bomb was not yet available.
Kuzynowski declined to disclose Torres' motive and to comment further on the case. Citing the advice of their attorneys and police, Caputo's employees in Algonquin also were not commenting. Caputo's Palatine-based corporate office forwarded calls to the Algonquin store.
Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Paul Biasco contributed to this report