Man Who Shot 3 People Outside Joliet Bar In 2018 Now In Jail Again

JOLIET — Less than eight months after being let out of his prison cell at the Illinois Department of Corrections for shooting three people outside Joliet's Eden Bar & Grill on Gardner Street, the Will County Sheriff's Office has put Alonzo Gadson back in jail. His latest brush with the law happened on Wednesday morning, according to the sheriff's office.

The agency on Laraway Road announced that Gadson is now being held on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, armed violence, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and being an armed habitual criminal.

On Tuesday, the sheriff's office noted, members of the Will County Sheriff’s Office Gang Suppression Unit obtained a search warrant for a property in the 400 block of Western Avenue in the City of Joliet after completing a drug investigation.

The search warrant was signed by Judge Derek Ewanic.

Early Wednesday morning, Will County Sheriff’s Office deputies knocked and announced on the rear door of the apartment. Upon receiving no answer or compliance from the occupants, deputies breached the door of the apartment and found Gadson inside, according to police.

Gadson was taken into custody by deputies without incident. Deputies discovered that the front door of the residence was fortified with two separate 2X4 wooden boards, according to police.

The sheriff's office said a search of the apartment was conducted, and deputies located a silver and black Taurus 9mm handgun inside a bag in the bedroom belonging to Gadson. In addition, a total of 23.1 grams of packaged cocaine and over $3,200 in cash was found on Gadson, police said.

Gadson was put on parole last May; he was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility awaiting his initial court appearance.

"The Will County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the various members of the Joliet Police Department that assisted in this operation and for the members of the Joliet Fire Department who were on standby while the search warrant was being conducted," the agency posted on Facebook.

One of the last stories Joliet Patch ran on Gadson came in November 2021, in a sentencing story headlined,"After Shooting 3 Outside Eden's Bar, Gadson Draws Prison Term."

"Defendant was at the Eden Bar and Grill, along with the three victims named in the charging document," Will County prosecutors noted. "Defendant got into an argument with the victims, pulled out a gun and fired in the direction of the victims, striking all three."

Although Patch reported that Gadson was getting a prison term of 16.5 years, he was let out of DOC on May 23, 2024, the prison record reflects.

During a November 2021 interview at his law office, Joliet criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz said that all three of Gadson's criminal sentences would run at the same time. Gadson also drew credit for the 1,227 days he has already spent in the jail awaiting trial.

The prison sentence will be served at 50 percent. Bretz predicted that Gadson would probably get out after serving another four years of incarceration.

"It was my belief, with all due respect to the (State's Attorneys), that Alonzo was clearly not the aggressor in this situation," Bretz told Joliet Patch in 2021. "Alonzo walks away to his car, and a whole group of these guys went over and surrounded his car.

"One of them kept trying to provoke an incident with him."