A 72-year-old Alton man is facing eight felony weapons counts after police say he fired a handgun inside a College Avenue residence, with the bullet striking the ceiling while the victim was in close proximity. Investigators say a search of the home turned up eight firearms, including handguns, a shotgun, a semi-automatic assault rifle and a short-barreled AR-15 variant that is illegal to own in Illinois. The man had a 1985 conviction for unlawful use of a weapon out of St. Louis County, making it illegal for him to possess any firearm at all.
According to the Alton Telegraph, the suspect was charged on October 9 with eight counts of felon in possession of a weapon and one count of reckless discharge of a firearm. The felon-in-possession counts are Class 3 felonies, while the reckless discharge charge is a Class 4 felony. Court documents reviewed by the paper say the suspect fired a handgun inside the residence near the victim, and that the Alton Police Department presented the case after obtaining a search warrant once investigators determined he was a convicted felon.
Under Illinois law, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon carries an enhanced Class 3 felony range of two to 10 years in prison, a harsher ceiling than the standard range for that felony class — and each firearm or round of ammunition can be charged as its own separate count, according to the Illinois General Assembly. That statute explains the scope of prison exposure facing the suspect across the eight felon-in-possession charges filed against him. The reckless discharge charge, meanwhile, is a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years and fines up to $25,000 when someone fires a gun in a manner that recklessly endangers another person's safety.
What the Victim Told Investigators
Per a petition to deny pretrial release, the victim reported that the suspect fired a handgun at the residence and struck the ceiling. The same petition states the victim told investigators that the suspect had multiple firearms and manufactures firearms. Police say the search of the home turned up numerous functional firearms, partially complete firearms, and ammunition, along with a bullet hole in the ceiling consistent with the victim's account.
The presence of partially built firearms brings the case into contact with Illinois's 2022 ban on unserialized homemade weapons. Governor JB Pritzker signed House Bill 4383 into law that year, making Illinois the first Midwest state to prohibit the manufacture, sale and possession of unserialized ghost guns and unfinished frames or receivers, according to Capitol News Illinois. That law included a 180-day grace period allowing existing owners to have untraceable guns engraved with federal serial numbers.
Why the Short-Barreled Rifle Charge Matters
The short-barreled AR-15 variant police say they found is illegal to own in Illinois under the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which banned short-barreled rifles and more than 170 semi-automatic firearm models starting in January 2023. The Giffords Law Center says the law allowed continued possession of weapons legally obtained and possessed before it took effect, provided qualifying owners submitted an endorsement affidavit by October 1, 2023.
A court ordered the suspect remanded to jail following his arrest. That outcome reflects a broader shift in Illinois criminal procedure: cash bail was eliminated statewide under the Pretrial Fairness Act on September 18, 2023, and prosecutors can seek pretrial detention through petitions based on public-safety risks, according to the Civic Federation. In this case, the Madison County State's Attorney's Office filed a petition to deny pretrial release.
A Felony Conviction Four Decades Old
The suspect's 1985 conviction for unlawful use of a weapon in St. Louis County is the basis for his ineligibility to possess any firearm under state law, per the prior conviction cited in court documents. Hoodline recently covered a similar case out of Texas, where a San Antonio felon was sentenced to nearly 10 years in federal prison under the same statute.
The suspect remains innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Key questions remain open, including whether federal prosecutors will pursue a parallel case under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) and what additional evidence about the firearm manufacturing was presented at the Madison County detention hearing.
