Alleged gun trafficker, two lookouts arrested after robbing detective in Beach Park

Patrick Neal

Three people were arrested Friday afternoon in Beach Park after attempting to rob at gunpoint a detective engaged in an undercover operation involving gun trafficking, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

At the time, the office’s Special Investigations Group was working with the Chicago Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to buy guns from a 17-year-old Beach Park boy believed to be trafficking firearms.

About 1 p.m., the undercover detective met with the boy to buy a firearm in a parking lot in the 38400 block of North Sheridan Road, sheriff’s police said.

As the two began speaking, the boy pulled a semi-automatic pistol from his waistband, charged it by racking the slide, pointed it at the detective’s face, and demanded the detective give him the money he brought to buy the firearm, police said.

The juvenile reportedly told the detective he would “blow his brains out” if he didn’t comply. The detective gave the money to the juvenile, who then ran off, police said.

Other detectives monitoring the transaction immediately moved in during the armed robbery, police said.

The juvenile was taken into custody after a brief chase. The money he’d stolen from the undercover detective was recovered. During the pursuit, the boy threw away the gun he’d used in the robbery, but it was found by the sheriff’s K9 Duke, police said.

Two people who’d been acting as the juvenile’s lookouts during the robbery also were apprehended.

One was a 16-year-old from Kenosha, Wisconsin, who was armed with a semi-automatic pistol converted to be fully automatic with an extended magazine, police said.

The other was 22-year-old Patrick Neal of the 10100 block of Ford Avenue in Beach Park, who also was armed with a semi-automatic pistol converted to be fully automatic with an extended magazine, police said.

A photo of the guns recovered from a search of the Beach Park home of a 17-year-old accused of trafficking firearms.
Courtesy of Lake County Sheriff’s Office

Detectives obtained a warrant and conducted a search at the 17-year-old’s home. Inside they found an AR pistol loaded with a rifle round, ammunition, extended magazines, and a drum magazine.

The 17-year-old was taken to the Hulse Juvenile Detention Facility and petitioned on charges of armed robbery, obstructing a peace officer, and three counts of unlawful use of a weapon.

Neal was found to have four outstanding warrants and was charged with armed robbery, aggravated unlawful possession of a machine gun, unauthorized possession of a firearm by a street gang member, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon.

He is being held in the Lake County jail awaiting a detention hearing Monday.

The 16-year-old was transported to the Hulse Juvenile Detention Facility and petitioned on a charge of unlawful use of a weapon.