A day after he shot and injured his two landlords when they tried to evict him, a fugitive from Mundelein was killed by police Tuesday as he fled west on a Nebraska highway, authorities said.
Hermelindo Rivas, 38, who police said wounded a man and a woman in a house Monday night in the 800 block of Lange Street in Mundelein, was found by the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Tim Webber, a task force inspector.
The task force alerted the Nebraska State Patrol, which tried to stop Rivas as he headed west on Interstate Highway 80 near Elm Creek, about 150 miles west of Lincoln, Webber said.
When Rivas didn’t pull over, police laid down a spike strip, which blew out the tires of his vehicle, said Mike Meyer, spokesman for the state patrol.
Rivas got out of the vehicle with a gun, fired at troopers and was shot and killed. No police officers were hurt, Webber said.
Officials were able to locate Rivas by tracking his cell phone signal, according to Nebraska police.
Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose said Martina Santos, 32, whom Rivas shot once in the abdomen and once in the leg, is in guarded condition at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. Abiel Alvarado, 51, was released from the hospital after being shot once in the right shoulder.
Santos’ 8-year-old son, who also lives at the address, saw the shooting, police said.
Neighbors said Santos is Alvarado’s sister-in-law.
Rose said Rivas was fleeing to California to stay with relatives when he was killed. A warrant for his arrest had been issued Tuesday, charging him with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.
Rivas worked in Arlington Heights as a car mechanic and moved into the home on Lange Street about three months ago after answering a newspaper ad, Rose said.
On Monday, the owners told him to vacate the room because they had sold the house, Rose said.
“He was told to leave [Monday] and had started moving stuff out,” Rose said. “There was a discussion about him leaving and the condition he left the room in.”
Rivas allegedly returned to the home about 11:30 p.m. and shot both victims, one of whom called police.
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Early Tuesday, police cordoned off Illinois Highway 176 between Illinois Highway 83 and Midlothian Road as they searched for Rivas at a house in the 20600 block of Park Avenue, where two of his three vehicles were located.
During the search, residents were evacuated from three nearby homes and police told dozens of other neighbors to remain inside.
A woman who was evacuated from her home was treated on the scene for a stress-related condition, said her son, Manuel Cavazos.
“They got scared,” said Cavazos, adding that his father looked out into his back yard to see men with guns. “My mother has asthma and couldn’t breathe.”
Ruth Chamberlin woke about 6 a.m. to the sound of helicopters above her house.
“I thought, who in the heck is mowing this early in the morning?” she said.
She stepped out of her front door and saw a police officer, who said they were searching for a fugitive and told her to go into her basement.
By 9 a.m., the area was opened to traffic again.
Rose said he does not believe that Rivas, who had several aliases, was a legal U.S. citizen or a registered gun owner. Authorities were unaware of any criminal history under this name. Rivas was identified using the Mexican driver’s license he had with him.
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