Man shot by Lake County sheriff’s deputy charged with attempted murder

A man shot by a Lake County sheriff’s deputy earlier this month in north suburban Wadsworth has been charged with trying to kill the deputy among a slew of other felonies.

Angel X. Lopez, 23, was released from the hospital and into police custody on Thursday, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

Lopez, who lives in Ingleside, has been charged with two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and one count each of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking, armed robbery, armed violence, possession of a weapon by a felon, possession of a stolen vehicle and aggravated assault, all felonies, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office said he was facing the attempted murder charge because “he performed a substantial step toward the commission of attempting to kill a Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy.”

Someone called 911 at 4:45 a.m. on Nov. 2 to report that a person, later identified as Lopez, was trying to burglarize her car in the 13200 block of Greenview Drive in Wadsworth, the sheriff’s office said at the time.

Lopez ran away when deputies and a canine team arrived, the sheriff’s office said. He got into a vehicle that was left running and warming up in the driveway of a home in the 13300 block of West Greenview.

He tried to drive away but crashed the vehicle into a tree, according to the sheriff’s office. He then brandished a pistol and one of the deputies shot him.

Lopez was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators recovered a gun at the scene.

Lopez remained held at the Lake County Jail on $3 million bail Thursday morning, according to the sheriff’s office. His next court date was scheduled for Nov. 30.

At the time of the shooting, Lopez was also wanted on an active arrest warrant for escaping from custody, the sheriff’s office said. He was sentenced in March to three years of periodic imprisonment with a work-release program for an unspecified previous charge. On April 13, he failed to return to his correctional facility after his work shift and the warrant was issued for his arrest.

Illinois Department of Corrections records show that Lopez was sentenced to four years in prison for a 2015 burglary conviction. He was paroled 2017.