Two men have been indicted in connection with a July shooting in Aurora, court records show.
A Kane County grand jury indicted Jesus Ferrel, 19, and his 21-year-old co-defendant, Aaron Tolamac, on charges of attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
Court filings describe tensions between Ferrel and an 18-year-old man who Ferrel believed was responsible for setting a friend’s car on fire two days before the July 21 shooting. Ferrel told police in an interview that the man sent Ferrel a Snapchat which said he knew where Ferrel lived. The man then drove by a few minutes later, a move which prompted Ferrel to contact Tolamac and a woman with a car. Ferrel said he wanted to fight the man, although Tolamac had a .45-caliber handgun with him when they arrived in the man’s neighborhood, according a police search warrant affidavit.
While standing near the man’s home, Ferrel used Snapchat to contact the man to “entice (him) to come out of his residence,” the affidavit stated. Ferrel claimed the man had a hand near his waistband as he exited a side door of his home, something Tolamac also told investigators.
“(The man) grabbed the middle of his waist area as if he were reaching for a weapon,” police wrote in describing Tolamac’s explanation during an interview. “(Tolamac) freaked out and squeezed the trigger. He fired the gun three times to scare (the man).”
The man dove back into his house and was not hit by gunfire, according to police and the affidavit. Four bullet holes from a .45-caliber gun were found in the door, and police recovered shell casings from the driveway, records show. Investigators also used video surveillance footage to identify Tolamac and Ferrel, who were apprehended a short time after the shooting.
The woman who drove Ferrel and Tolamac was released without charges. A search of the car turned up two phones which police analyzed for evidence. The affidavit states the man who was shot at declined to show investigators his Snapchat account, to view a lineup of suspects or to identify the vehicle involved in the shooting.
Tolamac, who faces other unrelated charges and was wanted at the time of the shooting, is scheduled to return to court Dec. 15, when he could be arraigned on the shooting indictment. He is held on nearly $500,000 bail, while Ferrel remains in custody on $200,000 bail with a Jan. 12 court appearance set.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.