Streator man convicted of firing shot at Leland campground

That was no firecracker thrown into a fire pit at Hi-Tide Campground near Leland, a judge ruled Thursday. It was a gunshot. Joseph Pawelczyk was found guilty of firing it.

Pawelczyk, 45, of Streator was convicted Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court of one count of reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years in prison with but the possibility of probation and/or jail time.

He will be sentenced at 1 p.m. Monday, May 12, before Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. Ryan presided over an intermittent bench trial and ultimately ruled that Pawelczyk had squeezed off a live round on June 22 with bystanders near the fire pit. Nobody was injured.

At trial, witnesses testified that Pawelczyk, who’d wandered over from a neighboring camp site, abruptly produced a revolver and discharged it into the fire pit. Their testimonies diverged, however, on the description of the gun and how he produced it.

Pawelczyk and his lawyer acknowledged there was a popping sound but argued it wasn’t from a gun. Pawelczyk testified he had, hours earlier, secured his five-shot, .22 Magnum revolver – although he did have on him some firecrackers he’d bought in Indiana.

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

At closing arguments Thursday, Plainfield attorney JohnPaul Ivec said the state’s witnesses had all been drinking and offered divergent descriptions of what happened.

Ivec also said Pawelczyk and defense witnesses testified he stored the five-chamber revolver in a safe inside his truck and then stashed the key inside his trailer. Pawelczyk was found to have five rounds in one of his pockets.

“If he would have shot the gun there’d be four bullets,” Ivec said. He added later, “It’s more than just weighing credibility, We have certain facts that are uncontroverted.”

But Assistant La Salle County State’s Attorney Matt Kidder said multiple witnesses saw a gun brandished and fired – even if descriptions varied – and only much later did anyone say anything about a firecracker being tossed into the fire pit.

“The firework story is an invention,” Kidder said, adding later, “It strikes the state as a bit too pat, a bit too cute.”

Ryan acknowledged the witnesses were under the influence – “Everybody’s having a grand old time” – but the witnesses all were in close proximity to Pawelczyk to get a glimpse of the firearm.

“It’s kind of hard to miss a gun,” Ryan said. “I’m having a real tough time moving away from the state’s [witnesses].”