Updated: Joliet daytime shooting leaves driver dead

The killer or killers of a 27-year-old man put bullets into him and four houses along Henderson Avenue in broad daylight on Sunday before the victim’s car crashed into a utility pole in a neighborhood park.

The official statement from Joliet police was that the man, not yet named, was apparently shot when police arrived on the scene to find his SUV sideways on the corner of Henderson and Columbia Street after getting a report of shots fired at 12:20 p.m.

Street sign marks the corner of Henderson Avenue and Columbia Street in Joliet where a man died Sunday afternoon when he was shot while driving. Oct. 31, 2022. — Street sign marks the corner of Henderson Avenue and Columbia Street in Joliet where a man died Sunday afternoon when he was shot while driving. (Bob Okon)

Neighbors telling what they knew of what happened described a scene in which one or two vehicles trapped the SUV and may have killed the driver on Henderson more than a block before his vehicle tore down a chain-link fence in the front yard of one home before crashing in Desmond Park.

The slaying happened in an old Joliet neighborhood on a stretch of Henderson Avenue where the old Saints Cyril and Methodius School building still stands, although it is no longer used for schoolchildren.

It was near that stretch of Henderson Avenue where bullets were flying and the victim may have been killed, said Maria Ramirez, who lives near the school.

This stretch of Henderson Avenue in Joliet is where a man was shot do death while driving his SUV on Sunday. Oct. 31, 2022. — This is the Joliet street where a motorist was shot and killed later died Sunday. (Bob Okon)

Ramirez was working at the time. But a friend who was visiting with her family was on the front porch having a smoke at the time of the killing and told her what happened.

“She heard so many shots that she thought they were fireworks,” Ramirez said.

The shooting started north of Ramirez’s house, she said. Her friend saw the SUV driven by the victim, who at that time already was slumped over and appeared dead, Ramirez said. There was one vehicle in front of the car and another behind it.

Ramirez noted that houses just north of hers in the 700 block of Henderson were hit by bullets.

One of those bullet holes could be seen in the siding next to a window in which a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Roman Catholic patroness of the Americas beloved by Mexican followers of the faith, is on display.

A stray bullet hit the wall but missed the window of a Henderson Avenue house with a picture on display of Our Lady of Guadaulpe. Joliet. Oct. 31, 2022. (Bob Okon)

The SUV somehow continued more than a block without hitting any parked cars along the side of the road before jumping the curb and ripping up the chain-link fence on a house at the corner of Henderson and Columbia before meeting its final resting place against the utility pole on the perimeter of Desmond Park.

ComEd crews were there Monday replacing the utility pole.

Zeke Medrano, who lives in the house with the ripped-up fence, said he was home at the time and “heard big thuds” from the impact of the SUV striking objects.

“I came outside, and I saw the car was flipped over already,” Medrano said.

ComEd crews on Monday replace a pole damaged when a man was shot while driving and crashed into the pole at Desmond Park in Joliet where he died on Sunday. Oct. 31, 2022. (Bob Okon)

A Henderson Avenue resident who did not want his name used said he came home from Sunday church service with Bible in hand to find his neighborhood blocked off by police investigating the homicide.

“I came out of my car, and I walked to my house with my Bible,” said the neighbor who did not want his name used.

The “body was inside” the SUV when he got home, the neighbor said. Later in the day, “a lady was crying” in Desmond Park where the SUV crashed.

“I think it was his mom,” he said.

Desmond Park at the corner of Columbia Street and Henderson Avenue in Joliet was the place where a man's car crashed after he was hit by gunfire on Sunday afternoon. Oct. 31, 2022. (Bob Okon)

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by the Will County Coroner’s Office, which had not identified him as of late Monday afternoon.

Detectives and evidence technicians found “numerous spent shell casings” at the scene, according to a news release from police.

Four houses were struck by bullets, Sgt. Dwayne English said. The SUV was “struck multiple times by gunfire,” he said.

A man walks along the perimeter of Desmond Park where ComEd trucks are lined up to replace a utility pole knocked down by a man shot to death on Sunday before his car crashed into the Joliet park. Oct. 31, 2022. — A man on Monday walks along the perimeter of Desmond Park where ComEd trucks are lined up to replace a utility pole knocked down by a man shot to death on Sunday before his car crashed into the Joliet park. Oct. 31, 2022. (Bob Okon)

“Both the motive and the events leading up to the vehicle crash remain under investigation at this time,” the police news release said. “This is an active investigation in its early stages as Joliet police detectives work to identify the suspect or suspects.”

Police are asking anyone with information to call the Joliet Police Department Investigation Unit at 815-724-3020. They can also contact Will County Crime Stoppers at 800-323-6734 or online at https://crimestoppersofwillcounty.org/ if they wish to remain anonymous.

Updated: Joliet daytime shooting leaves driver dead

Shooting and crash happened at Columbia Street and Henderson Avenue