13-year-old charged in 2016 Libertyville gun store break-in
A 13-year-old boy who was taken into custody Tuesday by Wheeling police regarding a vehicle break-in was subsequently charged in a 2016 burglary in which offenders crashed a pickup truck through the front of a Libertyville gun store.
According to police, the same youth, who lives in Wheeling, was linked by DNA to the Libertyville burglary that occurred Aug. 23, 2016, at Just Target Guns, 334 Peterson Road.
In that case, offenders used a pickup truck stolen from Mount Prospect to crash through the building facade about 4:30 a.m. to enter the store. The guns were stored in a bank-style walk-in safe, and an intruder fled when the security system sounded.
According to police, the truck drove away but returned a short time later and someone entered the store and took cases of shotgun shells. At the time, Libertyville police said they believed two people were involved — a driver and someone who went inside.
Police also said they had believed the suspects were the same people who smashed a truck into the receiving bay doors at a gun shop in Des Plaines an hour earlier that day but couldn't get inside.
According to Libertyville police, DNA evidence was collected at the Just Target Guns scene. Several juvenile suspects were identified in associated investigations by Wheeling and Mount Prospect police, according to Libertyville police.
Last September, the DNA samples from those juvenile suspects were sent to the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Lab, along with evidence collected at the Libertyville gun store.
When the Wheeling boy was taken into custody Tuesday, a DNA comparison linked him to the Just Target Guns case and Libertyville police were notified, according to Libertyville Sgt. Jeff Stolzenburg.
“It's nice, particularly on such an old case, to have good investigative work rewarded,” he said.
The boy was said to be uncooperative and was taken to Libertyville for processing and transfer to the Depke Juvenile Justice Complex near Vernon Hills. He was held pending proceedings on allegations of burglary, criminal damage to property, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and possession of ammunition without a firearm owners identification card, according to Stolzenburg.
“On our end, that's the only arrest” for the Just Target Guns break in, Stolzenburg said. Police still believe more than one person was involved, he added.