Palatine man jailed ahead of Romeoville reckless shooting trial

A Palatine man still facing Will County charges in connection with a teen’s death in 2019 was jailed once again following his arrest in Cook County.

On Wednesday, Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak revoked the bond of Eric Alhourani, 25, after she learned of his arrest on May 31 that led to several Cook County charges of unlawful drug and firearm possession charges.

“I’ll take you into custody,” Bertani-Tomczak told Alhourani.

Alhourani was handcuffed and taken to jail.

Since 2019, Alhourani had been on pretrial release in a Will County case in which he’s charged with armed violence and charged with endangering the bodily safety of Carlos Gasca, 18, by recklessly firing a gun in Romeoville.

Gasca died from a gunshot wound in the incident that was considered an accident by the Will County Coroner’s Office. However, Gasca’s mother, Dolores Garcia, has said she doesn’t believe her son’s death was an accident.

Alhourani is also facing a charge of obstructing justice by falsely claiming Gasca “was shot by a person shooting from a different vehicle than he was in.”

Alhourani’s trial in the Will County case is set for Aug. 12.

The incident that led to Alhourani’s most recent arrest began when authorities allegedly discovered he ordered a parcel “from an unknown source” that contained more than 3,000 grams of marijuana and a variety of marijuana products, according to a motion from Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Katie Rabenda.

Officers executed a search warrant at Alhourani’s residence, where they allegedly found two handguns that Alhourani admitted to owning; five small weight scales; a substance that field tested positive for psychedelic mushrooms; a large amount of cash and hundreds of grams of additional marijuana products, Rabenda’s motion said.

Rabenda’s motion said Alhourani was charged in Cook County with possession of firearms without a firearm owner’s identification card, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful marijuana possession with intent to deliver and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Alhourani had been released from custody following his arrest in Palatine, according to a statement from the Palatine Police Department.

Drug charges had also been filed against Alhourani in his 2019 case in Will County.

Those charges include unlawful possession of psychedelic substances known as LSD and MDMA, unlawful possession of a psychiatric medication called alprazolam, unlawful possession of marijuana and aggravated unlawful use of handguns.