Cops: Elgin teen fired shots at group near school

An 18-year-old man has been charged with firing a number of gunshots at a group of people in a residential area in Elgin Monday night, police said.

Officers responded to the 0-99 block of Mallery Avenue, about a block from Abbott Middle School, at approximately 8 p.m. after multiple shots were fired.

Officers located three people who said a suspect got out of his vehicle and fired in their direction, according to police.

The man fled in a vehicle, but witnesses identified the suspect and he was arrested at his Elgin home on the 2000 block of Monday Drive early Tuesday evening.

Anthony Robledo was arrested without incident and was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm. He is due in bond court Wednesday morning.

Police said the shooting was gang-motivated, but the people Robledo is accused of shooting at were not the people he intended to hit.

One of the bullets struck a garage of an occupied home, but no one was injured, Elgin Police Cmdr. Glenn Theriault said.

The shooting took place a block from a gathering of a summer youth program run by the Elgin Police Department to keep kids off the street and busy while school is out.

“Our goal is to prevent kids from joining gangs altogether, as evidenced by our Kids United program going on a few blocks away,” Elgin Police Chief Jeffrey Swoboda said in a statement.

A 17-year-old Elgin juvenile was charged with unlawful contact with a gang member for his involvement in the case, police said.