Police reports detail Richmond road rage situation involving armed driver

A Richmond man accused of pointing a gun at another driver last week caused a scene at a nearby bank only moments earlier, police reports show.

An employee at First National Bank in Richmond told police that she recognized the man pictured on the news pointing a handgun out the window of his red Jeep, according to police reports. She identified the man as 41-year-old Brian Schimian, a "problem customer" who "seems to be mad all the time," police reports show.

Moments before Schimian allegedly pointed a gun at another driver, he “dropped a lot of F-bombs” at a high school-aged bank teller, bringing the employee to tears, according to police reports.

Schimian, a former Grayslake firefighter, is charged with disorderly conduct and reckless driving in connection with an April 16 road rage situation. It was unclear Wednesday whether Schimian has hired an attorney.

Attempts to reach Schimian on Wednesday at a phone number publicly listed under his name were unsuccessful.

Richmond police officers responded about 4:45 p.m. April 16 to the area of Route 173 and Commercial Drive for a report of a man with a gun, reports show.

When officers arrived, they spoke with Bart Surroz, a Wisconsin man who said he was driving north on Main Street when a red Jeep behind him sounded its horn, according to police reports.

Thinking the driver of the Jeep might be trying to alert him to something, Surroz got out of his car to inspect the back of his gray Mini Cooper, he told police.

“I looked up, and he was pointing a gun in my direction,” Surroz wrote in a police statement.

Surroz continued to walk toward the Jeep and began recording on his phone the gun-wielding driver, who told Surroz to get back in his vehicle, according to police reports. When Surroz ignored his requests, Schimian took off, “swerving into oncoming traffic,” witnesses said.

Schimian told police a slightly different version of the story.

When traffic began to slow down that afternoon, the driver of a gray Mini Cooper, Surroz, got out of the car in what seemed to be an unusual manner and approached Schimian’s vehicle, police reports show.

Surroz reached in his front pocket, and Schimian said he feared he would retrieve a gun, police wrote. Surroz’s “strange behavior” made Schimian fear for his life and draw his handgun, according to police reports.

Schimian denied ever honking his horn, although several witnesses told police they heard prolonged honking coming from Schimian’s Jeep.

Schimian is free on bond and due back in court May 9.