Joliet man with attempted murder charge arrested again after March shooting
Angel Vargas, 25, faces new charges after a March 6 shooting struck a home in Joliet's Dover Street. Prosecutors are seeking detention, citing roughly five open felony cases.
Joliet man with multiple felony cases jailed after Dover Street shooting
Angel Vargas, 25, of Joliet, was returned to Will County jail on Friday following a shooting on 6 March that struck a residence in the 600 block of Dover Street, shawlocal.com reports. Two women and a young child were eating dinner at the home when gunfire hit the building; the three fled to the basement for safety.
Vargas faces charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated assault and violation of pretrial release conditions. He had been on home confinement with an ankle monitor at the time of the incident.
Officers conducting a search recovered a loaded 9 mm handgun and a loaded .40-calibre handgun at Vargas' residence. The .40-calibre weapon was fitted with a switch device enabling fully automatic fire. Vargas was detained during a nearby traffic stop and brought to the Joliet Police Department for questioning. He told police he was not present at the shooting and claimed the GPS data from his ankle bracelet placing him at the scene was incorrect.
Vargas has approximately five open felony cases dating back to 2022, including a charge of attempted murder stemming from a shooting in Joliet Township that same year.
Will County Assistant State's Attorney Tricia McKenna filed a petition to keep Vargas in custody, arguing he has been "given so many attempts" to comply with bond and pretrial release conditions, including the most restrictive form — home confinement with an ankle monitor. "Despite this, the defendant continues to commit new, violent offenses and to terrorize the community. There is clearly nothing less restrictive than incarceration which could adequately protect the community from Angel Vargas," McKenna's petition stated.
Vargas' detention hearing is set for 10 April.
His most recent prior jail stay ended on 30 January 2025, when Will County Judge Art Smigielski denied a prosecution petition to revoke Vargas' pretrial release following additional charges filed against him in 2024. A court filing from Assistant State's Attorney Christine Vukmir dated 27 January 2025 noted that Vargas had by that point been "given seven prior opportunities to be released on pretrial conditions and continues to violate the terms of that release."
Before the elimination of cash bail under the SAFE-T Act, Vargas had secured his release from jail on cash bonds reduced by Will County Judge Carmen Goodman at the request of his attorney, Chuck Bretz. In the attempted murder case, an initial $1 million bond was reduced to $50,000.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)