For nearly two years, gun-related arrests were a monthly and sometimes weekly occurrence at the Topgolf parking lot in Naperville.
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Police officers would do patrols of the lot at 3211 Odyssey Court, spot a firearm laying on a car floor or somewhere else in plain sight, wait for the vehicle’s owner to return and arrest them. Sometimes, it was the scent of cannabis or the sight of open alcohol that would attract them.
But as out of the blue as the cases began at the venue, so too did they stop. The last arrest was made in November.
So, what happened?
Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow could not pinpoint a specific reason for the sudden end to the gun-related incidents, but speculated a number of factors may have contributed, including a combination of active police patrols, security enhancements by Topgolf and media attention.
“We’re very proactive up there,” Krakow said. “And hopefully the message got out that we’re going to be over there and enforcing the laws and holding people accountable for bringing illegal weapons to that parking lot.”
Topgolf did not respond to requests for comment.
The sports entertainment complex opened in Naperville in 2015, but incidents related to guns being found in cars did not appear on the police department’s radar until August 2023. In the ensuing months, a total of 46 gun-related arrests were made in or near the Topgolf parking lot, all but two of which resulted in charges, according to Naperville police spokesperson Kelley Munch.
The vast majority of people cited in the cases were not from the Naperville area. Many had addresses in the south suburbs and northwestern Indiana.
Antonio Billups, of Peoria, was the last person arrested near the lot. He was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a loaded weapon and unlawful possession of cannabis by a passenger in November 2025, according to police reports.
Billups’ case is still pending. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, and is next scheduled to be in court on June 23, DuPage County court records show.
Police have been diligent about doing foot patrols of the Topgolf lot when time allows, Krakow said, although he could not say how frequently such searches occur in a week or a month. He stressed they have not changed their approach in how they keep an eye on the venue.
A patrol can consist of walking through the lot and looking into vehicles or driving through the lot and keeping an eye out for alcohol consumption, cannabis odors or other things that draw suspicion, he set. The Topgolf lot is just one of several places that police routinely patrol.
“There is no set amount of times in which (officers are) required to patrol certain parking lots,” Krakow said. “It’s just as time permits, and as they see activity levels and what they believe just needs their attention.”
For example, if an officer finds an illegal firearm while patrolling the lot on a Monday, they are more likely to visit the same lot the next day, he said. If a weapon is found two days in a row, more resources are going to be pushed to that area, he said.
“When it finally gets to the point where you go Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and there (are) no arrests, there’s no illegal activity that you’re identifying at that point in time, you feel comfortable to reduce your patrols and go and identify another area of town (that needs help),” Krakow said.
While police never determined why Topgolf became such a hotspot for people carrying guns, he said he is happy to see the criminal activity die down.
“We feel good that the efforts of our officers are paying dividends,” Krakow said. “Their proactive policing has seemingly yielded a reduction in weapons offenses in an area of our city where they were quite frequent over a period of time.”