A Joliet man is charged with attempted murder after he allegedly fired shots at a motorist in the Loop early Thursday.
Prosecutors said Armando Munoz Jr. opened fire on a 62-year-old man as the victim prepared to park near the 600 block of South Wabash around 4:15 a.m.
The man told police he was on his way to work when he saw a group of people on Divvy bikes in the lot where he usually parks. A source said the victim is employed as a security guard at DePaul University’s Loop campus.
Growing suspicious of the people in the lot, the guard decided to drive around the block rather than try to park. That’s when he heard four or five gunshots and saw flashes of light in the lot.
The victim sped to the Roosevelt Red Line station and asked a transit police officer for help. He was not injured.
Cops rounded up the Divvy bikers and began to impound a car that belonged to a woman the bicyclists were talking to. Faced with the potential loss of her vehicle, the woman started talking.
“I didn’t do anything,” the woman allegedly said while nodding toward Munoz. “He did.”
The woman went on to explain that Munoz got into the back of her car after he fired the shots and ordered her to drive away, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Meredith Rudolfi. But the woman refused and told him to get out.
Munoz put his gun into the woman’s purse and stepped away, Rudolfi said.
Police said they found a loaded handgun with an extended magazine in the woman’s purse along with six shell casings that matched unused rounds that were in the gun.
Prosecutors charged Munoz with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and assault. He has no criminal background, according to his private attorney, Martin Quintana.
Judge John Lyke called the case a “head scratcher” given that Munoz has “no background whatsoever.” Lyke set bail for Munoz at $50,000 and ordered him to stay in the house from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. if he can post the mandatory $5,000 deposit bond. Lyke settled on a curfew order because the sheriff’s office does not offer electronic monitoring to people who live outside Cook County.