Towing company owner charged with trying to kill his employee at Park Ridge mall

The owner of a towing company has been charged with attempted first-degree murder in an incident involving one of his employees outside a Park Ridge strip mall.

David Jilwaya, 44, was arguing with a 21-year-old employee about 8:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Landings Shopping Center at 2606 E. Dempster St. in Park Ridge, according to police in the northwest suburb.

When Jilwaya fell to the ground as the argument turned physical, he pulled out a gun and fired a single shot at the man as he ran away, police said. The bullet didn’t strike him.

Jilwaya drove away in a gray SUV, but later returned when officers were at the scene, police said.

He ignored officers’ orders and charged at the man, threatening to kill him and using racial slurs, police said. Officers forcibly took him into custody and found a .38-caliber semi-automatic handgun in his vehicle that matched a shell casing in the parking lot.

Bond information for Jilwaya, a Des Plaines resident, wasn’t provided.