Police, delivery driver testify about getting shot at during ‘reign of terror’ in McHenry area

As lightning was crackling and thunder booming early on March 31, 2023, police searched for a suspect accused of shooting a gun outside a McHenry home and then at three moving vehicles – two while en route to assist at one of the crime scenes – and damaging homes.

Testimony was heard this week from law enforcement officers detailing what one called a “chaotic” four hours during a thunderstorm searching for Nicholas Lopardo, 27, of Lake Villa.

Lopardo is now on trial on charges of attempted murder, among other offenses. He is having his case heard this week before Judge Tiffany Davis rather than a jury. Davis will decide the verdict. Authorities say Lopardo shot his gun, stole a vehicle, led police on chase and shot at cop cars during what prosecutors called a “reign of terror.”

The string of events kicked off when Lopardo took off in a black Jaguar from a McHenry home on Charlotte Avenue about 1 a.m. that day in 2023, after a woman rejected his advances, prosecutors said. Before he left the property, he shot about five rounds from a .357 Magnum in the front yard, prosecutors and witnesses said Monday on the first day of the trial.

While police were responding to 911 calls in that incident, authorities were called to another residence on Colby Drive outside McHenry. Homeowners there said their black Suburban had been stolen and someone left a black Jaguar in their yard. The driver’s side door of the Jaguar was open and the vehicle was left running; a half bottle of whisky sat on its roof, police said.

In the cold rains, officers searched the property, including a nearby barn that was empty, McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Quinlan Dixon said.

While this scene played out, Sheriff’s Deputy Adrian Cuceu testified that he was headed over to Colby Drive to assist. He drove about 100 mph in a marked sheriff’s vehicle with emergency lights and siren on. While heading south on Barreville Road, he saw a black Suburban driving northbound and it pulled over. He passed the SUV and said he heard “loud noises.” When he arrived to the Colby residence, a bullet hole was seen in the rear driver’s side door. He could not identify who was driving the Suburban, he said.

McHenry Police Department Detective Susan Ellis testified she was called in to take photos at the original crime scene, on Charlotte Avenue. Because she was only told to take photos, she did not wear a bulletproof vest.

As she drove south through the storm on the “very dark” Barreville Road, she saw a bright flash of light out her driver’s side window. Ellis said she lost hearing in her left ear. She called over the police radio that she thought she had been shot at and was told to go to the Colby Drive scene.

When she arrived a bullet hole was found in the driver side backseat door, about 8 inches from where she sat, she said.

“I was scared,” Ellis said, adding she did not see anyone or know where the bullet came from and that she was the only vehicle on the street.

Struck by bullets in the area of Barreville and Veterans Parkway was the car driven by Elizabeth Murphy of Wonder Lake, who was out to pick up newspapers to be delivered. At about 1:45 a.m., she left the Crystal Lake hub where she picks up the newspapers and headed north on Route 31. She turned right at Veterans Parkway, stopped at the stop sign at Barreville, crossed the street and heard “six pops,” which she said “sounded like kids' fireworks.” She didn’t see anything or anyone to explain the noise.

Murphy testified that she was on the phone with her boyfriend, who told her to keep driving. She continued along Veterans Parkway and saw a black Suburban in a ditch on the right side of the road, just past the entrance of a conservation area. Its driver door was open and it was running, but she didn’t see anyone. The SUV’s tail lights were facing the roadway and it looked like it had crashed, she said. Murphy continued on to deliver her newspapers, but she also called 911 because she worried someone in the Suburban was hurt.

However, she said it began to sink in that she might be in a more serious situation than she previously thought and that “maybe it was a gunshot” she heard. Her Honda Fit began “chugging” as if it was going to break down, and she called 911 again.

She later found the driver side rear tire was flat and her back bumper had been grazed by what police said was a bullet. A bullet also struck the front of her car and damaged the radiator and air condenser. A bullet was found next to her radiator.

Police testified that they found spent bullet shells in the Jaguar and the SUV. Photos of damage to all three vehicles were shown in court Wednesday.

Lopardo’s defense attorney, Robert Ritacca, sought to poke holes in the state’s witnesses' testimony. He questioned the timeframes in which they heard or were hit by gunfire and noted that no one saw where the bullets were shot from or saw anyone shooting at them.

The trial continues Friday.