Authorities still mum on Fermilab shooting, victim gets lawyer
A week after a shooting at Fermilab involving an off-duty police officer and six young people, law enforcement authorities still remain largely silent about the case.
“We are being directed by (the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office) that we can’t give any additional information at this time,” Sheriff’s police spokeswoman Dawn Domrose said Friday.
Officials from State’s Attorney Robert Berlin’s office also said they could not release any new information Friday, but Berlin said this week a “thorough” investigation is in progress.
Police initially said an off-duty officer driving in his personal vehicle witnessed a hit-and-run crash early last Saturday morning near Route 59 and Dale Avenue in West Chicago. According to police, the officer then followed the offending vehicle to the Fermilab property near Batavia, where a confrontation ensued in the parking lot.
But the teens involved say their green Honda was sideswiped by a black Jeep, and the driver of that same Jeep chased them into a dead-end on the Fermilab property. As they attempted to pass the Jeep, the six car occupants, ages 17 through 24 and all from Cicero, say the man they presume to be the off-duty officer stood in the roadway, gun drawn.
At some point, the Honda occupants said, the man opened fire on the vehicle. Back-seat passenger Juan Carlos Ruiz, 17, was struck and taken to Delnor Hospital in Geneva.
Rosalba Barrera, mother of passenger David Barrera, said she and parents of Juan Carlos and his brother, Joaquin Ruiz, 19, who was also in the car, intend to press charges. They’ve hired Berwyn attorney Fred Acosta, who says he is conducting his own investigation into the shooting.
Acosta said although authorities are remaining “tight-lipped” about the off-duty officer’s identity, he plans to file a civil rights suit against the officer by next week. The suit could include the agency that employs the officer, “if I determine that he was acting under the color of law,” he said.
“Just give us the identity of the officer. Are they protecting him right now?” Acosta said. “I find it strange. If any other person did what this officer did, they would have been charged immediately with attempted murder.”
Joaquin Ruiz told the Daily Herald this week his brother, Juan Carlos, was hit by one bullet that entered his back, exited near his bellybutton and grazed his leg. Juan Carlos was struck in the kidney in the shooting and had to undergo surgery to remove 7 inches of his intestines, his brother said.
From his hospital bed Friday, Juan Carlos said his condition has improved, and he hoped to be able to go home by Monday.