An 18-year-old Oswego man whom police describe as a confirmed gang member was arrested in Aurora for the second time in less than a week, accused of threatening to shoot and stab a stranger before becoming physically confrontational with an officer trying to take him into custody. Josiah Evans now faces felony charges stemming from two separate incidents that unfolded just days apart.
According to a report citing Aurora police, officers responded to the 700 block of South River Street around 5:30 a.m. Saturday after a man called to say he had been approached and threatened while sitting in his vehicle. Police say the stranger threatened to shoot the victim, punched him in the face, and later threatened to stab him as well.
Suspect Confronted Victim Again, Then Fought With Officer
Police say the suspect did not stop there. After the initial confrontation, he allegedly tried to approach and threaten the victim a second time before turning physically confrontational with a responding officer, the same report notes. Officers located a suspect matching the victim's description near South River Street and Rathbone Avenue and identified him as Evans.
The victim declined medical attention, per the report. Evans was taken into custody and now faces aggravated battery to a peace officer, a Class 2 felony, and aggravated battery in a public way, a Class 3 felony, in connection with Saturday's incident.
Second Arrest In Less Than A Week
Saturday's arrest came just three days after Aurora police had already taken Evans into custody as part of an investigation into vehicle burglaries near South LaSalle and Bluff streets. During that earlier investigation, officers recovered a wallet that had been stolen from an unlocked vehicle, the report states. The Kane County State's Attorney's Office approved a felony burglary-to-a-motor-vehicle charge, also a Class 3 felony, in that case.
Illinois law defines burglary to include knowingly entering or remaining in a motor vehicle without authority and intending to commit a theft or felony inside. When the burglary occurs in a vehicle without causing damage, the offense is classified as a Class 3 felony—the same class of charge described in Evans’s earlier case. The charge is an allegation; the statutory definition does not establish that a burglary occurred or that Evans committed one. Illinois’s burglary statute sets out those elements and classification.
Aurora Police Chief Matt Thomas said in a news release that the suspect's confirmed gang membership and escalating behavior are concerning, and that repeated criminal activity in a matter of days gets police attention. The Aurora Police Department has said holding gang members accountable for criminal behavior is a priority, according to the same account.
Held At Kane County Jail, Next Court Date In October
Evans remains in the Kane County Adult Justice Center, with a court date scheduled for Oct. 14. No additional details about the victim, the officer involved, or the circumstances that first drew Evans's attention to the man in his vehicle have been released.
Being held before trial is not a finding of guilt. Under Illinois law, defendants are generally presumed eligible for pretrial release; a judge may order detention only after a hearing and when the legal requirements for detention are met, including a finding that no release conditions can reasonably address the relevant concerns. That statewide framework provides context for jail custody in a pending case, but it does not establish what the court decided in Evans’s case. Illinois’s pretrial-release law describes the presumption and detention process.
