Wheeling “Shots Fired Suspect” from Colonial Dr Arrested Near Baldwin Rd and Dundee Rd, Palatine

Wheeling police responded about 6:00 PM Thursday, October 9, 2014 to a report of a shots fired at Colonial Drive and Elmhurst Road Wheeling, IL. Police received a report that shots were fired, and were investigating whether shots were fired or whether only a weapon was displayed. Witnesses reported a black revolver was displayed.

Two rounds were found to have struck the driver’s side of a vehicle where two women were sitting inside in the 800 block of Colonial Drive. The women, who were not injured, reported a man driving by aimed a large, black firearm at the vehicle and fired two or three shots.

A quick investigation at the scene led police to believe that the suspect was Adrian Soto — a 19-year-old Palatine man with a history of gang ties. Police were not sure if Soto knew the women, and considered the possibility that the shooter was attempting to shoot at someone else. Police were searching for two male/Hispanic suspects who were reported to have fled in a green newer model Nissan Maxima. The suspects were last seen southbound on Elmhurst Road from Colonial Drive in Wheeling — possibly seen by other witnesses who saw the shots fired.

Wheeling police contacted Palatine police, who began a search of the suspect in the area of Dundee Road and Baldwin Road, east of Rand Road and north of Dundee Road in Palatine. About 7:30 p.m. Thursday, two Palatine police officers discovered Soto walking north on Baldwin Road near Dundee Road. When police officers exited their police squad vehicle, Soto ran, but police were able to apprehend him and discover he possessed a loaded Taurus .357 Magnum revolver in his waistband and approximately 1.2 grams of cocaine in his pocket.

Palatine police charged Adrian Soto of the 1900 block of North Green Lane North with resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance and armed violence, for possessing a firearm while committing the felony of possessing cocaine.

Wheeling police charged Adrian Soto with aggravated possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a street gang member and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (UUW).

Soto appeared in bond court in Cook County Circuit Court Rolling Meadows Friday morning facing the Palatine and Wheeling charges. Soto’s bail was set at $200,000, and his next court date for all charges is scheduled for October 24, 2014.

Gang conflicts out of the Dundee Road and Palatine Road area have also been connected to incidents in the Boxwood neighborhood of Mount Prospect just east of Randhurst Village with suspected retaliation between the two neighborhoods.

Information of some gun-related incidents in the Boxwood area and near the Randhurst Village area have not been released by the Village of Mount Prospect or the Mount Prospect Police Department via press releases, official website posts, or official social media accounts such as Facebook or Twitter.

 IMPORTANT ALERT … 

Cardinal Note: As of June 5, 2013 — up to and including the date of this article — police incidents related to the above police agency (Palatine Police Department and Mount Prospect Police Department) are not reported in real time or within a prompt time period. Police protecting their realm of investigation and police activity, have chosen to use secret military-grade encrypted radios to withhold their police communications, which were previously open to the public and news media via monitoring of public safety scanning radios — with no known negative results locally.

The delayed knowledge or entirely blacked out knowledge resulting from encrypted police communications may protect certain police operations and investigations, but it also puts the public at risk in situations such as when armed and dangerous offenders are at large and when other similar situations occur, such as when desperate offenders of property crimes are eluding police. In other cases, the delayed or blacked out information inhibits or prohibits the possibility of the public providing early witness accounts before a criminal trail goes cold. Citizens are much more likely to recognize or recall suspicious or criminal activity if they are aware of the criminal incident within minutes or hours of its occurrence. The most serious incident involving dire results would be a trail that is allowed to go cold in the case of child abduction.

The lack of real time information from public police dispatch also weakens an effective neighborhood watch program mostly working to prevent property loss, but also working to prevent possible violent crimes.

Lack of real time information from police dispatch also delays public awareness or eliminates public awareness of general hazards and traffic or other situations in every day living in an otherwise economically thriving community.

Police have alternate ways to transmit tactical, operational or investigative information, while still keeping their main public dispatch channels open for the best balance of public safety and police safety.

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