Three arrested after Elgin bike shooting
The investigation into a man who was shot last week while riding his bicycle on Elgin's east side resulted in three arrests: a juvenile charged with attempted murder, and two gang members charged with weapons violations and two other shootings in March.
"We started to encounter a lot of these gang members (while investigating)," Acting Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said. "Our detectives did a fantastic job of tracking them down."
Swoboda said police arrested a 16-year-old boy from the city's east side and charged him with attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.
Swoboda said the shooting was not a gang initiation; it was two members of different gangs randomly crossing paths.
The victim was hospitalized after he was shot in the leg near Chapel and Prairie streets.
Swoboda said the department's gang unit worked on the investigation from the start, and its work led to the arrests of two more gang members.
Bryant Torres, 18, of the 400 block of Ball Street in Elgin, was being held at the Kane County jail on $275,000 bond Monday for his alleged role in two shootings in March.
He faces four counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a street gang member, unlawful possession of a weapon without a firearm owner identification card and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
The most serious charge carries four to 15 years in prison.
Torres, who is due in court Monday, was arrested Saturday morning.
Swoboda said the first incident occurred at 3:23 p.m. March 23 at Percy and Stella streets on the city's near east side. Police responded to a call for shots fired and found a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol.
On March 30, police were called to the 300 block of Illinois Avenue - just a few blocks east of the March 23 shooting - for another call of shots fired and found shell casings in the street.
"He was shooting at rival gang members," Sgt. Dan O'Shea, head of the gang unit, said about Torres.
No injuries were reported in either case, Swoboda said.
Police also executed a search warrant Sunday night and charged Anthony Coppoletta, 22, of the 100 block of Channing Street, with two counts of unlawful use of weapon by a felon and possession of a firearm without a FOID card.
Swoboda said detectives seized an SKS assault rifle from Coppoletta's residence.
He is being held at the Kane County jail on a $50,000 bond and is due in court Monday. The most serious charge carries three to seven years in prison.
Coppoletta also was on parole for a burglary conviction, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.