A Wheeling man was arrested on weapons charges during an investigation into a gang-related shooting that wounded two people Saturday in northwest suburban Prospect Heights.
Police first responded about 11 p.m. Saturday to multiple calls of shots fired in the 700 block of Piper Lane, according to a statement from Prospect Heights police.
Officers found a 38-year-old who had been shot in the head, and a 21-year-old who had been shot in the chest, police said.
Because of their gang allegiances and previous interactions with law enforcement, the victims and witnesses in the case refused to cooperate with police, authorities said.
Investigators followed other leads, and found video footage from a recently installed security camera system that helped identify a vehicle possibly used in the shooting, the statement said. Authorities also canvassed nearby apartments to speak to neighbors.
The investigation took them to north suburban Wheeling, where they found a .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle and a .38 caliber handgun in the apartment of 23-year-old Daniel Uriostegui, the statement said.
Uriostegui was charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, police said. The guns are being tested at the Northern Illinois Crime Laboratory, and will be compared with evidence from the shooting and other open cases.
“Despite the lack of cooperating witnesses, Prospect Heights police officers and investigators did an outstanding job of recovering two firearms from a dangerous gang member and convicted felon,” Chief Jamie Dunne said in a prepared statement.
“If we can gain the trust of the neighborhood and increase their level of security, we will earn mutual cooperation and respect,” he said.
Uriostegui was scheduled to appear at a bond hearing Tuesday in Rolling Meadows courthouse, police said. Court information was not immediately available.
Both people hurt in Saturday’s shooting are expected to survive, police said.
