Aurora Teen Sentenced In Connection With Gas Station Shooting

WHEATON, IL — A 17-year-old Aurora teen will spend the next four years assigned to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice after he pleaded guilty to two felony counts in connection with firing a handgun at another vehicle at an Aurora gas station earlier this year, the DuPage County State’s Attorney announced Thursday.

The juvenile pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm by a gang member. He was immediately sentenced to juvenile justice by Judge Anthony Coco, who ordered that the teen would not spend any time beyond his 21st birthday in the system, according to a news release.

The teen was originally charged with 16 counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm along with other weapons charges when he made his initial court appearance last month. The charges stem from an incident at 3:45 p.m. Feb. 21 when police were called to the Thornton’s gas station in the 2800 Ogden Ave. after reports of shots being fired at the gas station were called in.

Police said that upon arriving, they determined that the juvenile had gotten out of the vehicle he was riding in and began firing shots at another vehicle, which was parked at one of the gas pumps, according to the release. Six shots hit the vehicle and after firing the gun while the other vehicle was parked, the juvenile continued to fire at the other vehicle as it moved through the parking lot of the gas station.

The juvenile, who was determined to have fired a total of 16 shots at the vehicle, was arrested on May 6 on unrelated charges.

“The residents of DuPage County should not be subjected to random, gang-fueled violence as we saw in this case,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the release Thursday. “My office has no tolerance whatsoever for this type of brazen behavior and will act swiftly to protect our residents when incidents such as this arise. Thankfully, no one was injured or worse, killed, by the actions of this juvenile. I commend the Aurora Police Department for their efforts in identifying the defendant and for their continued work in keeping our neighborhoods safe.”