Insanity verdict in Streamwood attempted murder

A Streamwood teen who shot and stabbed his parents and held police off for hours in his home was found not guilty by reason of insanity Monday at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.

Alex Rivera, 18, had been charged with two counts of attempted murder of his mother, Josephina, who was shot in the chest and stabbed in the stomach, and his father, Jesus, who was shot in the back.

Both survived their injuries and were in the courtroom with their 24-year-old son, Jesus. All were in tears as Judge James P. Etchingham read his verdict.

"Good," said older brother Jesus about his feelings regarding the ruling. "It's what we were hoping for."

Two psychologists testified that Rivera suffers from a form of schizophrenia and did not understand the criminality of his actions when he attacked his parents on the afternoon of May 17 last year.

Rivera, who had been in custody since the offense, was turned over to the Department of Human Services after the verdict. He will stay there until June 30, when attorneys determine the next step in Rivera's treatment.

Streamwood police officer William Husfield testified that he was called to the Rivera home, 734 Surrey Drive, shortly after 5 p.m.

He found Rivera's injured parents at a neighbor's home, he said. Rivera held police off for four hours until officers smashed in a back fence, which caused the teen to exit the front door, he said.

Husfield found a .32-caliber revolver hidden under Rivera's pillow. In the parent's room, he found a handle of a butcher knife and the accompanying blade nearby.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Catherine Nauheimer said Josephina Rivera was sleeping that afternoon when Rivera entered her bedroom, asking her to make him something for dinner.

As she got up, she saw him holding a gun. She told prosecutors she was startled because he didn't seem upset until that moment.

The pair struggled with the gun until it went off, striking her in the chest. She did not realize she was stabbed in the stomach until later.

Jesus Rivera, hearing his wife, scream, "Oh my God! Police! Police!" ran into the room, grabbed his son and ordered his wife to get out, Nauheimer said.

She then ran to a neighbor's home, while her husband fought with Rivera for 10 minutes until the teen was able to grab the gun away. He told his father to kneel, but Jesus Rivera ran out the bedroom door. He was shot in the back as he did.

Psychologists Nishad Nadkarmi and Christopher Cooper examined Rivera, and both determined that he had schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder that's characterized by distortions in perceptions of reality. He displayed inappropriate behavior, such as laughing to himself for no apparent reason.

Rivera had been treated prior to the incident for psychosis, indicating a history of mental illness, which the teen had been reluctant to accept.

Rivera's mental decline had worried his parents, who sought help for their son as his problems worsened. He dropped out of Streamwood High School at 15, displayed poor hygiene and would laugh at inappropriate times, Nadkarmi said.

All these factors led the psychologists to believe Rivera was not faking an illness.

"He was legally insane at the time of the offense," Nadkarmi said. "His mental disease impaired his capacity to appreciate what he was doing."