Firecracker or shot fired in Leland? Judge to decide on case Jan. 30

Was it a firecracker or a gunshot heard last summer at Hi-Tide Campground near Leland? A Streator man needs a judge to believe it was a firecracker, or he could face prison time.

Joseph P. Pawelczyk, 45, stood for a bench trial Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court. Although no one was injured, Pawelczyk is charged with two counts of reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years in prison.

Pawelczyk does not yet have a verdict. La Salle County prosecutors have a rebuttal witness who was unavailable to testify Thursday. Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. held the case over until Jan. 30, at which time he may decide whether Pawelczyk tossed a firecracker into a campfire, as he claims, or whether he fired a live round.

La Salle County sheriff’s deputies responded twice June 22 to the campground after a shot-fired report. Although nobody was placed into custody after the first visit – a deputy testified that some of the principals were intoxicated and needed to be calmed down – Pawelczyk was arrested after the second visit. Witnesses filed statements saying that Pawelczyk discharged a handgun.

One of the witnesses, Jacob Fitzgerald, told police that it was well after midnight when Pawelczyk, whom he didn’t know, walked over from his camper to where Fitzgerald and a small group of campers sat by a fire pit. Pawelczyk, he said, said something indistinct and pulled a surprise.

“He pulled a gun out of his waistband and shot it into the fire pit,” Fitzgerald said.

That was partially corroborated by two other witnesses, although there were discrepancies among their testimonies. All three witnesses were drinking and submitted varying descriptions of the gun and how it was brandished.

Pawelczyk, however, said he’d secured his five-shot, .22 Magnum revolver hours earlier but that he did have some firecrackers he’d purchased in Indiana.

“I threw one in the fire,” he testified. “I thought it would be funny.”

There’s no evidence that anybody laughed – but nobody seems to have jumped up and run, either. To hear state witnesses tell it, everyone at the fire pit calmly dispersed.

“After that,” witness Alex Cook testified, “we all just kind of looked at each other and decided to call it a night.”

Closing arguments are pending, but Pawelczyk’s lawyer hinted that the state’s witnesses offered unreliable, divergent testimony and that police never swabbed Pawelczyk’s hands for gunpowder residue.

La Salle County Assistant State’s Attorney Matt Kidder countered that there was no mention of a firecracker when Pawelczyk was questioned at the scene or taken to the sheriff’s office, where which he was argumentative. (From the stand Thursday, Pawelczyk acknowledged that he was “being belligerent for no reason” and apologized for his conduct.)

Pawelczyk’s lawyer, Plainfield attorney JohnPaul Ivec, suggested that the firecracker never was mentioned because the cops simply never asked.

“You never volunteered that you threw a firecracker into the fire pit?” Ivec said.

“No,” Pawelczyk replied.

“Why not?” Ivec pressed.

“It’s our first day at Hi-Tide, and we’d be kicked out immediately,” Pawelczyk said.

“But you were never asked directly about the firecrackers?” Ivec said.

“No, sir,” Pawelczyk said.

The trial resumes Jan. 30.