Juvenile broke into Westmont car dealership, attempted to drive into cop when fleeing the scene: prosecutors

WESTMONT, Ill. - A juvenile accused of burglary and assaulting a police officer at a suburban BMW dealership will be detained until at least his next court appearance, the DuPage County State's Attorney said.

The juvenile has been charged with two counts of armed violence, one count of burglary, one count of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, one count of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and one count of aggravated assault on a police officer.

The juvenile's co-defendants, Angel Martin, 23, of Dolton, Semaje Wheeler, 18, of Chicago and Brian Garrett, 19 of Chicago, appeared in court on Jan. 1.

A judge set bond at $1 million for Martin, and $750,000 for Wheeler and Garrett.

Authorities said all three men have been charged with two counts of armed violence, one count of burglary and one count of possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

At about 4:27 a.m. on Dec. 31, Westmont police officers received information about a burglary in progress at Laurel BMW located on Ogden Avenue.

Two officers responded to the dealership, where they encountered two individuals, later identified as the juvenile and Martin, exiting the showroom and entering a white Acura with two other occupants, later identified as Wheeler and Garrett, authorities said.

After arriving at the dealership, the juvenile and Martin were allegedly armed with a pry bar and attempted to enter the building on the east side, but were unsuccessful.

The two then allegedly joined Wheeler and Garrett in the Acura and drove to the west side of the building.

They exited the vehicle again and allegedly attempted to enter the building with the pry bar.

Prosecutors said that Martin eventually grabbed a landscaping rock and threw it through a pane of glass in the garage bay door.

The juvenile and Martin then allegedly entered through the broken window.

Once alerted to the arrival of police, prosecutors say the two exited the building and entered the Acura to flee.

Officers blocked the driveway with their squad car, and exited the squad car. As the Acura attempted to flee, the officers drew their weapons and ordered the offenders to stop and exit the car, prosecutors said.

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The defendants still attempted to flee in the Acura, which was allegedly driven by the juvenile, by driving directly at one of the uniformed officers.

At that time, the officer discharged his weapon, striking the juvenile in the chest and grazing Martin — who was sitting in the front passenger seat, prosecutors said.

As the vehicle approached, the officer ran out of the path of the vehicle and used his free hand to push the vehicle to avoid injury.

The vehicle then allegedly fled east on Ogden Avenue to northbound IL-83 near 22nd Street in Oak Brook, prosecutors said.

The vehicle crashed into a ditch, and the four suspects fled on foot.

The four suspects were apprehended a short time later.

The juvenile was taken to a hospital for medical attention, and remained there until Monday when he was discharged into the custody of authorities. 

During the investigation, authorities learned that the Acura had been stolen on Dec. 21, 2021, out of Lake County.

As officers processed the scene, they located three firearms inside the Acura; a Glock 23 40 caliber with an extended magazine, a Poly 80 gun with a round in the chamber and a Glock 17 9mm with a fully loaded 24-round magazine.

Additionally, officers found a Glock 19 with an extended magazine just outside the Acura near the driver's side door, prosecutors said.

Three of the firearms had switches, which could render the firearms fully automatic.

Officers also located a 50-round drum magazine that was nearly full, 28 key fobs for various vehicles and two pry bars inside the car.

"The filing of identical charges against the juvenile accused in this case sends the message that in DuPage County we will not tolerate this type of violent behavior and will aggressively prosecute anyone accused of such conduct, regardless of age," said DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin.

The juvenile's co-defendants are expected to appear in court on Jan. 24 for arraignment.

Each of the juvenile's co-defendants faces a possible sentence of 15 to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections if found guilty of the armed violence charge.