Owner accused of reckless shooting

A businessman faces a felony weapons charge alleging he fired several gunshots inside his company's Cary industrial park facility, endangering workers in a nearby unit.

Kevin R. Chwala, 41, of Barrington Hills was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm after the Friday afternoon incident at his business, Omni Containment Systems in the Three Oaks Industrial Park.

Police said Chwala was shooting a .357 revolver into a stack of wood pallets inside his facility when at least one bullet pierced a wall between his facility and a vacant unit next door and continued into a FedEx maintenance shop where at least one worker was on the job.

"He was back there shooting the weapon for recreational purposes," Cary police Sgt. Ed Synek said Monday. "Certainly it was very reckless, and we're fortunate no one was injured."

Chwala on Monday admitted having the gun, saying he keeps it for security because he often is alone at the business. But he disputes police accounts that he fired the gun intentionally.

"I dropped the gun, it fell on the hammer and it went off," he said. "I'm in absolute shock that this happened. Thank God nobody was hurt."

The bullet fired Friday was recovered inside the FedEx facility, Synek said, and several more were located inside Chwala's business. That leads police to believe it is not the first time a weapon has been fired at the facility.

"This is not a one-time event," Synek said.

Chwala denied that claim.

"I'm a 42-year-old businessman with 110 employees," he said. "I don't go around shooting guns inside my facilities."

Chwala, who is free in $1,500 bond, is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 3 before McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather. The charge against him is a Class 1 felony, punishable by a maximum of four to 15 years in prison if he is convicted.