Oglesby man detained for July shooting in La Salle

La Salle police and drug agents on Thursday apprehended a suspect in a July shooting near a La Salle bar. Leeonta Patton will remain in custody while awaiting trial.

Patton, 27, of Oglesby (also listed in Chicago) was picked up Thursday after an Oglesby drug raid in which agents seized suspected fentanyl. Early Friday, police and prosecutors disclosed that Patton was a suspect in a July 28 shooting in downtown La Salle during which a man was shot and injured.

Patton is charged with one count of being an armed habitual criminal and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both Class X felonies carrying six to 30 years in prison with no possibility of probation. He also is charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm, a Class 1 felony carrying four to 15 years.

On Friday, Patton appeared in La Salle County Circuit Court, where prosecutors spelled out the known facts in the twin investigations.

On July 28, La Salle police officers were on routine patrol at First and Hennepin by Doc’s Pub when then-unidentified individuals were seen running. Patrol officers followed and soon received reports that shots were fired. From the 100 block of Tonti Street, they found shell casings from a 0.9-mm pistol.

While the suspects fled, investigators retrieved what prosecutor Laura Hall termed a “large amount of surveillance video” showing a confrontation.

On video, Hall said, Patton is seen drawing a handgun and firing, and both the muzzle flash and the pop of the gun could be seen and heard on the footage.

The targeted individual was struck, treated and recovered, La Salle police said in a news release, but the person has not cooperated with investigators.

Hall said police obtained corroborating eyewitness testimony plus cellular activity that placed Patton in the vicinity, but “the video evidence speaks for itself.”

Hall asked to have Patton held in the La Salle County Jail pending trial because he’s a convicted felon who had no business owning a gun, let alone firing one and injuring someone.

Patton then was charged with drug possession after the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team raided his residence Thursday and seized about 21 grams of fentanyl plus evidence of intent to distribute.

Public Defender Ryan Hamer disputed the strength of the state’s case and questioned why investigators waited more than three months to charge him in an incident where individuals exchange gunfire.

“And I say one of them because there were several guns fired,” Hamer said. “There may be an element of self-defense here.”

Hamer asked to be placed on home confinement at his mother’s residence in Chicago.

But Judge Michael C. Jansz ruled out GPS monitoring, terming the weight of the evidence “significant” and citing the potential risk to the public.

“Fentanyl is particularly troublesome, but more troubling to the court is the exchange of gunfire on a city street in La Salle,” Jansz said. “That runs the risk of members of the public getting hurt, and there was an individual who was hurt.”

Patton will next appear for arraignment Nov. 22 in La Salle County Circuit Court.