A disagreement among co-workers who lingered after their shift in a Buffalo Grove parking lot turned into a gun-pointing, car-smashing confrontation on Oct. 2, according to police. Javier Castillo-Pedraza, a 28-year-old North Chicago man, is accused of pointing a handgun at two co-workers, battering one of them and damaging a vehicle with a baseball bat.
Buffalo Grove police responded at about 7:45 p.m. that Friday to a disturbance in the parking lot of a business in the 1700 block of Leider Lane, which journal-topics.com identifies as the Connexion lot. The trouble started, according to Patch, after several co-workers remained at the business following their shift and an argument escalated from there.
North Chicago police officers located Castillo-Pedraza a short time later and took him into custody without further incident, the same report notes. Officers recovered a handgun and a baseball bat that police believe were used during the alleged offenses, and Castillo-Pedraza also voluntarily surrendered four other firearms, which were inventoried and secured for safekeeping, per the journal-topics.com account.
No Injuries Reported, But Property Damage Adds Up
Despite the alleged assault and battery, responding officers observed no apparent injuries to either victim, according to the same Patch report. The vehicle targeted with the baseball bat was a 2023 Nissan Altima; police said the attack smashed out the rear windshield and left a large dent in the hood, causing more than $500 in damage, according to the Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
Castillo-Pedraza now faces one Class 4 felony count of criminal damage to property, two Class A misdemeanor counts of aggravated assault and one Class A misdemeanor count of battery, per the Patch report. As the Daily Herald reported, the charges stem from allegations that he threatened two co-workers with a gun, hit one of them and damaged a vehicle with a bat.
Conflicting Accounts on Custody Status
Reports diverge on what happened to Castillo-Pedraza after his arrest. Patch reported that he remained in custody pending his initial court appearance, while the Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported that Lake County Judge Gabriel Conroe found probable cause for the charges and released him with pretrial conditions. Those reported conditions, per the Scanner, included no contact with one of the victims and the surrender of his FOID card, concealed-carry license and firearms.
His next court date is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 28 at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, according to Patch's reporting. The case remains pending, and the final outcome of the charges has not been reported.
