The McHenry County Board usually hears about the county’s growing gang problem in the abstract–an occasional report from local police or a news story about gang crime.
But board members and other county employees experienced it firsthand Thursday in a hallway outside a criminal courtroom, and then in the main courthouse parking lot.
Five men who police described as gang members from McHenry and Kane Counties ran into three others who police said were rival gang members from Rockford. Some of the men were at the courthouse for weapons and traffic cases. Others had been called to appear before the county grand jury.
The rival gang members bumped into each other about 9:30 a.m. in a third-floor hallway outside two criminal courtrooms and began flashing gang signals, though the individual members didn’t know each other.
“They followed this up by jawing at each other,” said Sheriff Keith Nygren. “They know that we have a lot of security in the building, so they decided to go outside, where there was some pushing and shoving in the parking lot.”
Apparently seeing that a lot of police officers were walking back and forth to court, two of the men jumped into their minivan and chased three of their rivals down busy Illinois Highway 47 to Bates Park, a half-mile south of the courthouse, said Woodstock Police Sgt. Richard Johns.
At the park, Johns said, Pernell L. Johnson Jr., 20, of Carpentersville, pulled a socket wrench out of the minivan and struck one of the Rockford men in the head.
Johns also said the van driver, Anthony Juan Herrera, 18, of unincorporated McHenry County near Harvard, pulled out a 2-foot board and was preparing to strike another of the Rockford rivals when he apparently heard police sirens and stopped.
At that point, Johns said, the Rockford men jumped into their car and drove away, only to be apprehended by Woodstock police about a half-mile away.
Meanwhile, Herrera and Johnson drove back to the courthouse parking lot, where the three other members of their gang were waiting.
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But Woodstock police and sheriff’s detectives also were waiting. Johns said officers found the wrench and the board in the minivan.
Police charged Johnson and Herrera with aggravated battery and mob action. Herrera also was charged with driving without a driver’s license.
Both men were being held in McHenry County Jail awaiting an appearance Friday in Bond Court. The Rockford gang members refused medical treatment and were released, Johns said.
The incident caused a stir throughout the courthouse, but Chief Joseph Marvin of the Woodstock police said the rumble “is part of being the county seat.”
“There are gangbangers and other criminal elements who go there because they are charged with crimes,” Marvin said. “A lot of altercations, whether they are domestic situations or (involve) gangs, will start inside the building and carry over to the parking lot.”
Donna Schaefer, chairman of the County Board’s Law and Justice Committee, said: “I would hope that this incident makes people realize that the gang problem is not overblown–it is here.”
The courthouse has armed guards and metal detectors designed to prevent anyone from bringing weapons inside the building.
Nygren said the seven-person security detail confiscated about 5,000 prohibited items–including guns, knives, pepper spray and sharp-edged instruments such as scissors–during the first six months of this year.
“We’ve never had anybody hurt, but this shows the need to keep a good security detail,” Nygren said.
“A lot of average citizens come to the courthouse to get marriage licenses and passports, register to vote, pay their taxes, testify at County Board meetings and participate in divorce, probate and personal-injury cases. As long as gangbangers aren’t breaking the law, we can’t keep them out.”