Unsolved: Double Slaying At Ingalls Park Liquor Store In Joliet

JOLIET, IL — Six months ago on Joliet's east side, 29-year-old New Lenox resident Zachary Stohr drove to the Ingalls Park Liquor Store at 1822 East Washington St. That night, gunshots rang out in the liquor store parking lot.

Xavier Mendoza, a 20-year-old Joliet resident, died instantly when someone walked right up and shot him in the head as he sat in the car outside the building. Stohr, an apparent eyewitness, was subsequently shot in the back by the same person who wanted Mendoza dead.

Stohr stumbled inside the liquor store, gasping his last breaths. He collapsed on the floor, which is where Will County Sheriff's deputies found him. The shootings happened around 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 1, which was a Tuesday.

Sheriff's deputies discovered Mendoza dead in the car. An East Joliet Fire Department ambulance rushed Stohr to Silver Cross Hospital where he died. The gunman got away before the ambulance and several Will County Sheriff's squad cars arrived at the Ingalls Park Liquor Store.

"Zachary was outgoing, clever, entertaining and could banter for hours. He loved being a Cat Daddy to Noodle. His personality would light up the room and his silly and kind-heartedness was contagious," his published obituary noted.

According to Joliet's Delgado Funeral Home, Mendoza was known by his friends and family as Zay-Zay and X-Man. He was a lifelong resident of Joliet, and he attended Gompers Junior High, and Joliet Central High School.

"One of his favorite things was food. Xavier was bilingual and proud of his Hispanic roots and could often be found driving around with friends listening to Hispanic and rap music, that is when he wasn’t at the park with his beloved dog Winter or his lovely girlfriend Marjyah," according to his obituary.

Because the double homicide happened outside Joliet's city limits, the Will County Sheriff's Office, not the Joliet Police Department, is in charge of solving the chilling crimes.

The killer of Mendoza and Stohr has not been captured. No arrests have been made.

On Monday, Will County Sheriff's Chief Deputy of Investigators Dan Jungles declined to say whether his agency's detectives have any suspects.

Jungles confirmed for Patch that the two homicide victims did not know each another.

When Patch asked Jungles if Stohr was probably shot because Mendoza's killer did not want to leave any eyewitnesses to his crime, Jungles responded, "that is the likely scenario."

"There is no further information I am willing to release on that ongoing investigation," Jungles informed Joliet Patch on the sixth month anniversary of the double homicides.

At the time of the Sept. 1 shooting, no customers were inside the Ingalls Park Liquor Store.

Then the night store clerk saw Stohr, a customer he recognized, bleeding profusely from his front and back. The store clerk called 911 at 8:42 p.m. and Will County police arrived about a minute later.

The clerk told Joliet Patch back in September that he remembered hearing several gunshots from outside the store.

"One guy came in and he (fell) inside. I called an ambulance," the employee said the day after the double homicides. "He cannot talk, but (was) moving. Blood on the front and back side."

The employee had worked at the liquor store for four years, and he had never encountered a violent shooting on the property until the night of Sept. 1, 2020.

Six months later, the unsolved double homicide at the Ingalls Park Liquor Store remains the banner headline on the Will County Crime Stoppers website: "Will County Sheriff’s Office is seeking assistance in helping to identify suspects in double homicide."

According to CrimeStoppers, the Will County Sheriff’s Office is still seeking the public’s help in trying to identify the suspects of the double homicide.

If anyone has information, people are urged to contact Detective Brian O’Leary at 815-727-8574 at extension 4957. You can also leave anonymous tips on the Will County Sheriff’s website at www.willcosheriff.org/enforcement/submit-a-crime-tip. You can also contact Will County Crime Stoppers at 800-323-6734, or by Submit an anonymous tip online.

CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. People using the Text a Tip program should text “willcocs” and their tip to 274637. Callers and tipsters can remain anonymous.