Wheeling men sent to prison for firearm violations
Two men with criminal records pleaded guilty to firearms charges related to a shooting last year in Mount Prospect.
No one was injured in the shooting, which took place the afternoon of July 15, 2015, on the 1200 block of Boxwood Drive.
Rodrigo Acosta-Caballero, 25, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and was sentenced to three years in prison. He received credit for 436 days in custody.
Edgar Gonzalez, 23, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm while on parole and was sentenced to three years in prison. Gonzalez received credit for 255 days in custody.
A third defendant, Juan Salinas, 24, who also has a criminal record, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon in June. He was sentenced to three years in prison with credit for 327 days in custody.
Police say the three men, all from Wheeling, are known gang members.
Witnesses told police a vehicle with four people in it approached a building on Boxwood Drive at 4:41 p.m. the day of the shooting. Two men - one carrying a bat, one carrying a handgun - left the vehicle and approached the witnesses.
The man with the handgun fired at the witnesses, then got back into the car.
Working from the witnesses' description of the car, police located the men a short time later on the 200 block of Old McHenry Road, prosecutors said.
Police recovered a loaded .38-caliber revolver on the rear seat of the car. The gun matched spent shells found at the shooting scene.