The identity of the male shooter of an Illinois State Police trooper on Thursday August 15, 2019 in Wheeling was released Saturday as 43-year-old Volodymyr Dragan. Police arrived at Dragan’s house after he was accused of a serious offense during a traffic stop on Interstate 294 very early Thursday morning.
Police said that Volodymyr Dragan was speeding on his motorcycle when he was pulled over by an Illinois State Police trooper about 1:30 a.m. Thursday August 15, 2019 on the Tri-State Tollway near Glenview. While sitting in the back seat of the squad car, Dragan pulled out a 9-mm handgun and “negotiated” his release and drove away on his motorcycle without he or the officer opening fire, according to Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Margaret Johnson.
CBS Chicago video shows SWAT with rifles positioned behind a tree after an Illinois State Police trooper was shot in the writs or forearm while in an arrest warrant operation.
Later Illinois State Police assembled near Dragan’s residence to serve an arrest warrant at Dragan’s townhouse in the 400 block of Hickory Drive in Wheeling on Thursday afternoon. Dragan fired two or three shots at police because “he wanted officers to know he was there,” Johnson said.
During the developing standoff, an Illinois State Police trooper was shot in the wrist or forearm. Dragan said he fired the shot because “he wanted to teach him a lesson,” Johnson said. Illinois State Police troopers, working along side the injured trooper, applied a tourniquet to his arm. Wheeling Fire Department firefighter/paramedics were dispatched to the scene and the trooper was transported by Wheeling Fire Department ambulance to a local hospital. The trooper was treated and released from the hospital.
Police say that after they used a battering ram mounted on the front of a SWAT truck to break through garage door of his townhouse, the house was declared secure. Dragan walked out of his home and was arrested about 6:40 p.m. Thursday according to witnesses in the neighborhood. Dragan had his hands on his head and was wearing a holster as he was arrested in front of his townhouse. Dragan was charged with multiple felonies, including attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm to a police officer, aggravated assault of a police officer, and aggravated unlawful restraint.
Police surrounded the townhouse for a couple of hours after Dragan’s arrest to confirm there were no other assailants in the townhouse, and that the townhouse was not rigged with booby traps.
Dragan is being held in Cook County jail without bond. Citing police videos and statements that Volodymyr Dragan gave to police, Cook County Associate Judge Charles S. Beach II said on Saturday that Dragan would be held in custody because “he is a real and present threat to the safety of the community.”
According to Linkedin, Dragan grew up in Ukraine and studied at Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, a higher education institution based in Ukraine, and known for preparing qualified and experienced specialists for the oil and gas industries. Dragan began work in 1996 as lead engineer inspector at power plants and substations for the Burshtyn power station in western Ukraine, and received a master’s degree in electrotechnical systems of electricity supply in 2003. In 2008, he was hired at The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) at 1700 South Mount Prospect Road in Des Plaines, but a GTI spokeswoman said Dragan left voluntarily in May 2018. Dragan speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.
GTI is an American non-profit research and development organization which develops, demonstrates, and licenses new energy technologies for private and public clients, particularly for the natural gas industry.
Dragan’s next court appearance is Tuesday August 20, 2019 at the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows.
Scene on Hickory Drive and Harmony Drive near Manchester Drive after an Illinois State Police Trooper was shot during an arrest warrant operation on Hickory Drive.
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