Crime & Courts

Joliet man arrested in connection with reported shooting: cops

Man was previously arrested with 2 others in Joliet Township standoff

Two men told deputies they chased a Joliet man who they thought was breaking into a car, and the men said they were shot at during their pursuit of that suspect, police said.

Joseph Asbury-Butler, 22, of the 600 block of Chase Avenue, was taken into custody in connection with the incident on charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated discharge of a firearm.

At 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday, deputies responded to a residence and spoke with two men who said they were visiting a relative on Brown Avenue in Joliet when they spotted a man loitering near their relative’s home, sheriff spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.

The two men confronted the other man, thinking he was breaking into a vehicle, and the man took off running, Hoffmeyer said. The two men chased the suspect, who was able to jump into a vehicle, and a chase began that went around the Ridgewood neighborhood, she said.

Both men told deputies that, at one point, a man “leaned out of the passenger side” of the vehicle and “fired several shots at their car,” Hoffmeyer said.

The men then lost sight of the vehicle near Cass and Walnut streets, she said. The men were not injured.

While deputies were investigating the incident, they received reports of an unknown man ringing the doorbells of two homes, Hoffmeyer said. Deputies responded to one of the homes and found Asbury-Butler, as well as a handgun in the snow near him, she said.

Shortly afterward, Joliet police officers pulled the “potential offending vehicle” over in a traffic stop, Hoffmeyer said.

During questioning, Asbury-Butler told deputies “he approached the two homes because he felt he was in danger while being pursued by the two men,” Hoffmeyer said. He also denied having a weapon.

Hoffmeyer said the incident remains open and under investigation.

Asbury-Butler, Ricardo Barrios-Reyes, 26, and Miguel Barrios-Zacarias, 29, were identified by police as the men who fled from deputies investigating a report of gunshots on Oc. 3 in the area of Siegmund Street.

The deputies found a suspect vehicle the three men were riding in but they refused to pull over, police said. The three men bailed from the vehicle and then barricaded themselves inside of an East Jackson Street home, police said.

The men refused to leave the residence, leading to a standoff that continued for many hours, and then a SWAT team from the sheriff’s office “deployed a distraction device and breached the front door of the residence,” police said. The men eventually complied with instructions to leave the residence.

Asbury-Butler and Barrios-Zacarias were charged with misdemeanor obstructing a police officer, while Barrios-Reyes was charged with felony aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. Barrios-Reyes was also charged with obstructing a police officer.

Asbury-Butler’s sister Gina Desmond, 44, and Martha Barrios-Ramos, 48, were also charged with obstructing a police officer in connection with the incident.

The women were arrested because they crossed the police tape barriers when the SWAT team began to make entry into the residence where the men had barricaded themselves, Will County Deputy Chief Dan Jungles said.

Jungles said the two women are friends and he believed Barrios-Ramos is the mother of Barrios-Zacarias and Barrios-Reyes.

Desmond is also the mother of Xavier Mendoza, 20, who along with Zachary Stohr, 29, of New Lenox, were shot and killed on Sept. 1 at the Ingalls Park Food and Liquor in Joliet Township.

No one has been arrested and charged yet in connection with the murders.

Felix Sarver

Felix Sarver

Felix Sarver covers crime and courts for The Herald-News