OREGON — At Tuesday's monthly meeting of the Ogle County Board, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle presented a critical incident briefing on the June 12 shooting in Lost Nation that resulted in three Ogle County Emergency Response Team members being shot.
Jonathon Gounaris, 32, of rural Dixon, who was also shot in the incident, was arrested on a no bond warrant and charged Tuesday with four counts of attempted first degree murder, three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, three counts of aggravated battery and two counts of possession of a firearm without a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card stemming from the incident. The investigation into the incident was handled by the Illinois State Police and charges were handed down by the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office.
"The first step in the justice process is the suspect getting arrested," VanVickle said. "It was good to hear that charges were authorized. It made a lot of people pleased today."
The video shown to the board Tuesday detailed the events from the body camera perspective of Ogle County ERT Member Deputy Jon Shippert. The video was posted to social media as well and can be found on the Ogle County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. The video contains graphic images and viewer discretion is advised.
On the morning of June 12, members of the Ogle County ERT responded to a home in Lost Nation after a call from a parent regarding their adult son having suicidal and homicidal ideations. Information provided by the family member also indicated the suspect was armed with multiple firearms, VanVickle said, and it was learned that Gounaris' FOID card was revoked due to a clear and present danger report.
The Ogle County ERT is made up of individuals from different agencies including the Ogle County Sheriff's Office, the Oregon Police Department and the Byron Police Department as well as SWAT medics from the Rochelle Fire Department.
The incident took place at 402 Wild Rice Lane in Lost Nation. The Ogle County ERT arrived on scene at 10:20 a.m. and a hostage negotiator arrived on scene and attempted to make contact with the individual with no response to over 50 calls made to the residence in various forms.
“The information we got from the family member was that this was very likely going to be suicide by cop-like situation,” VanVickle said June 12. “There was nobody else in the residence. The family member that called was not at the residence. The suspect was in the residence by himself and we had that confirmed by the family member. We believed his intention was to harm police officers. That's the information the family member told us.”
The Ogle County ERT entered the residence at 11:51 a.m. and was immediately met with gunfire, before returning fire and incapacitating Gounaris, VanVickle said. In the exchange, Ogle County ERT Members Tyler Carls (Rochelle Fire Department), Lt. Jason Ketter (Ogle County Sheriff's Office) and Sgt. Tad Dominski (Oregon Police Department) were hit.
Gounaris was located inside the front door of the residence with a gunshot wound. VanVickle said Gounaris was armed with two handguns, a fixed-blade knife, pepper spray and ballistic armor.
Carls and Dominski were transported to KSB Hospital and treated for their injuries and released the same day. Ketter was flown to OSF St. Anthony Medical Center, underwent surgery, and was released on Friday, June 14. Gounaris underwent surgery and was released from the hospital before being arrested. He is currently housed at the Winnebago County Jail and has a court date scheduled for Thursday, June 20 in Ogle County court.
The video shown Tuesday depicted ERT members approaching and entering the home with a battering ram and over 20 total gunshots can be heard upon their entry. ERT members are then shown assisting members who took fire. ERT members can be heard speaking about who was "down", to which a member responded, "the bad guy." At its end, the video shows ERT members inside the home requesting a medic.
At the conclusion of the ISP’s investigation, a review of the incident will be conducted by the Ogle County Sheriff's Office to determine if any agency policy violations occurred.
VanVickle was visibly emotional after presenting the video to the Ogle County Board Tuesday.
"I've seen this a lot," VanVickle said. "But it doesn't get any easier. Everybody is doing good. We appreciate everything that you guys do."
While speaking with the Rochelle News-Leader and Ogle County Life on Tuesday, VanVickle said he and his office chose to put the footage out to the public for the purpose of transparency and to show residents the work that deputies and ERT members do. He said the process of reviewing the footage was "eye opening."
"I think that's one benefit we've found with the body cameras is they give the real story and bring closure and help tell the story," VanVickle said. "That's helped myself and the deputies. People can see what they do and what happened and know that what they did was what they were trained to do and it was all correct."
A week after the Lost Nation incident, VanVickle said that his office has started to move forward. A critical incident debriefing is planned for his office and the ERT on Wednesday, June 19 and training will resume after that.
The sheriff thanked the community for its support amid a difficult time for his office and the Ogle County ERT.
"The one thing we've always said is we're thankful to live in the rural Midwest where that support is common," VanVickle said. "This is how we treat people and people treat us. It's needed when someone injures multiple members of your family. We truly appreciate that outpouring of support from the community."
Charges
In a Tuesday press release announcing charges against Gounaris, Ogle County State's Attorney Mike Rock detailed the potential punishments they could yield.
Attempted first degree murder is a class X felony that is punishable by a special sentence of 20-80 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by three years of mandatory supervised release.
Aggravated discharge of a firearm is a class X felony that is punishable by a special sentence of 10-45 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by three years of mandatory supervised release.
Aggravated battery is a class X felony that is punishable by a special sentence of 15-60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by three years of mandatory supervised release.
Possession of a firearm without a FOID Card is a class three felony punishable by a sentence of 2-5 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by six months of mandatory supervised release.
The charges are merely allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until or unless proven guilty in a court of law.
