Skokie Woman Accused Of Shooting Gun Into Air During Dispute

SKOKIE, IL — A Skokie woman faces felony firearm charges after firing a gun into the air during an argument on the street last month, authorities said.

Jasmine Roland-Hilliard, 23, of the 4800 block of Wright Terrace, was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of aggravated assault, according to Skokie police and the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

Witnesses said Roland-Hilliard drove her white Honda Civic with four passengers to the 9100 block of Kilpatrick Avenue, got out with a gun in her hand, "charged" at a group of people and fired about five shots into the air, according to police reports and 911 calls.

"I'll shoot this [person]," she shouted before firing, a witness reportedly told police.

Dispatchers started getting calls about the incident shortly before 8 p.m. on July 10. One caller described a group of 10 to 15 people fighting in the street before the gunfire began. Others provided a detailed description of Roland-Hilliard.

"They're pointing a gun at everybody," one caller said. "There's kids out here."

"Somebody came ... and they started shooting and it's a girl," said another. "They're in a white Honda Civic, it's a car full of them."

Roland-Hilliard and her passengers got back into the Honda and fled after the shooting, turning west onto Davis Street from Kilpatrick and north on Skokie Boulevard, police reported.

Officer Mark Lazarescu was headed to the scene south on Skokie Boulevard with his lights and sirens blaring when he noticed a Civic matching the description of the shooter's car making a quick turn from Davis Street in the other direction, he reported.

Lazarescu made a U-turn and found that the car's plates and driver also appeared to match the description of the vehicle involved in the shooting, according to his report. He followed Roland-Hilliard into the parking lot of fast food restaurants in the 9400 block of Skokie Boulevard, where she parked in the northwest corner.

After ordering everyone out of the car one by one, police said they found a 9mm pistol in an area of mulch and small trees about 20 feet west of where the car was parked. The gun was empty at the time. The shell casings found at the scene of the shooting were also 9mm, according to police reports.

Officers collected samples for DNA testing and gunshot residue analysis from the Honda's occupants. It can take months or longer to receive results from such tests.

After interviewing everyone in the car, police released three men without charges. One passenger said he did not know why they had stopped to confront a group of people on Kilpatrick Avenue but saw his cousins all get out to fight and said he went to help break it up, police reported. Someone hit him in the face, he said, and then he heard some gunfire. He told police no one said anything as they sped away in the Civic.

Another passenger had been arrested by Skokie police earlier on July 10 and cited for unlawful possession of cannabis by a passenger, records show.

Police reported that he told investigators he took the bus home from the police station before Roland-Hilliard picked up him up with everyone else already in the car. He described being "grabbed by multiple unknown female subjects" and then hearing gunfire, according to police reports. He told police he had no idea where the gun came from.

That passenger was charged with resisting arrest on July 21 in connection with another reckless discharge of a firearm incident. A request for more information about the incident from Skokie police remains pending.

Roland-Hilliard posted the $1,000 cash portion of her bond on July 12, according to the sheriff's office. Park Ridge lawyer Nicholas Giordano, her listed private defense attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the case. She is due back in court Aug. 11 in Skokie.