Cops: Waukegan bowling alley shooting an inside job
A Waukegan bowling alley employee was shot in the back as he was walking to his vehicle with a bank deposit bag Saturday morning in what police are calling an “inside job.”
The 44-year-old man was walking to his car in the parking lot of the Brunswick Zone Fountain Square when the boyfriend of a Brunswick employee came up from behind and shot him once in the back, according to police.
The bullet exited through the font of the victim's chest, and the 24-year-old suspect took the bag of money and fled, police said. The victim was able to make it back inside the bowling alley, 631 Lakehurst Road, where he told an employee what happened and collapsed at about 9:43 a.m., according to police. The business was set to open at 10 a.m.
The victim was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center, where he remained in stable condition late Monday afternoon.
Waukegan Police said, 24-year-old Maurice Jones of Chicago, who they said they believe is the shooter, escaped in a tan colored minivan with Jeremy Miller, 22, of Chicago. Miller had been waiting in the parking lot and police said the van fled at a high rate of speed.
Shortly after the shooting, a witness spotted a suspicious abandoned minivan matching the description in Gurnee about three miles from the bowling alley, and police discovered it was reported stolen out of Chicago.
The witness told police two or three suspects exited the minivan and got into a green Chevy Suburban, which police said they later learned was driven by Jones' girlfriend.
During the investigation police discovered an employee of the bowling alley owned a green Suburban, and the owner, 24-year-old Jessica Baynes of Waukegan and Jones admitted their involvement in the armed robbery during police questioning, officials said.
Baynes picked up Jones and Miller after they abandoned the stolen minivan and drove them to her home on the 2700 block of North Butrick Street, according to police.
After dividing up the money, Baynes got back in the car along with her children to drive Jones and Miller back to Chicago, police said.
Baynes and Jones, of the 8600 block of South Champalin in Chicago, were charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery. They are being held at the Lake County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Jones, who was out on parole, was released in August 2011 on an aggravated unlawful use of a weapon conviction, according to police.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for Miller, of the 3800 block of South Wentworth Avenue in Chicago, but he remained at large as of Monday afternoon. Bond for his warrant was set at $500,000.
Waukegan Police Chief Daniel Greathouse thanked citizens and witnesses who assisted in locating the suspects.