Police: Glendale Heights man fired gun inside Schaumburg hotel room
A Glendale Heights man on parole for a 2014 domestic battery conviction was ordered held on $125,000 bail Tuesday as he faces charges he fired a gun inside a Schaumburg hotel room Sunday.
Zachary Woelfel, 29, of the 300 block of Thorncliff Drive, told police he shot the .380 caliber Ruger semi-automatic at the hotel room door because he believed someone was trying to rob him, prosecutors said Tuesday during a bond hearing before Cook County Judge Marc Martin.
"This indicates dangerous conduct," said Martin, who found sufficient probable cause to charge Woelfel with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, reckless discharge of a firearm and possession of a weapon with a defaced serial number. Martin dismissed drug charges stemming from Woelfel's arrest after finding no probable cause.
His arrest came after Schaumburg police responded to a complaint about what was believed to be fireworks about 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the Extended Stay Hotel on the 1200 block of American Lane. Arriving at the room, police observed bullet holes and called for backup, said Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Ruby Karam.
Officers subsequently evacuated the hotel and called in an emergency response team.
After coming out of the room holding a beer bottle, Woelfel was "ordered to the ground, handcuffed" and taken to another room while police cleared the room, Karam said.
They recovered three spent shell casings, and two bullets from the door, Karam said. A third bullet went through the door and into a window screen of a neighboring room, she said.
Woelfel made statements that led police to a car registered to Woelfel's girlfriend, where they recovered casings that matched the weapon found in the hotel room, Karam said
Woelfel's criminal background includes convictions in 2012 for criminal damage to property and possession of a controlled substance, authorities say. He also has nine misdemeanor convictions, mostly for domestic battery and violation of protection orders along with two gun charges, Karam said.
He's scheduled to return to court June 20.