Cops: Man trying to pick up son at Wheeling school had shotgun in car

(WHEELING) An apparently intoxicated man who tried to take his young son from a northwest suburban school Wednesday ended up in even more trouble when police found a shotgun in the back of his car.

About 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Horacio Reynoso Jr. arrived at Walt Whitman Elementary at 133 Wille Ave. in Wheeling, and told school personnel he wanted to pick up his son, according to Wheeling police.

School personnel, however, noticed he “smelled of an odor of an alcohol beverage,” a statement from police said. “Concerned for the child’s safety they spoke with the child’s mother who did not want the child to be released to Reynoso.”

Police were called, and when they went to Reynoso’s car, parked on school property, a passenger in the vehicle said there was a gun in the car, police said.

Officers found a Winchester .20 gauge shotgun in the back passenger area, and Reynoso was arrested after admitting he had brought the gun, police said.

Reynoso, 20, of the 200 block of Highland Avenue in Wheeling, was charged with felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon on school property, and possession of a firearm without an FOID; and misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a weapon, police said.

He was ordered held Thursday on a $40,000 bond.