Joliet Latin King Attacks 2 With Aluminum Bat During Family Christmas Gift Exchange: Prosecutors

JOLIET, IL — Jesus Loza-Rivas, a 23-year-old Joliet resident who gathered with his family to open Christmas presents under their tree, now finds himself staying in the Will County Jail indefinitely under the SAFE-T-Act after he orchestrated an unprovoked aluminum baseball bat attack upon multiple family members on Christmas Eve, prosecutors revealed.

Joliet police responded to the house in the 600 block of McDonough Street, just up the hill from the McDonough Street Bridge. Loza-Rivas now finds himself facing three aggravated battery crimes and two crimes of domestic battery.

Will County Judge James Harvey made the decision to invoke the SAFE-T-Act, keeping Loza-Rivas detained indefinitely.

According to the prosecution's successful filing, late on Christmas Eve, just as the family was about to open Christmas presents at their house in the 600 block of McDonough, Loza-Rivas "without reason swung an aluminum bat at his uncle's head."

Prosecutors revealed that the 39-year-old uncle was struck on the hand as a result of the blow and he was bleeding from his hand but later declined medical attention. Loza-Rivas tried to swing his bat at the uncle a second time but instead, a female relative, intervened and she was hit with the bat, prosecutors pointed out.

Several family members saw the baseball bat attacks unfold, court files show. Prosecutors indicated that Loza-Rivas told Joliet police officers he did strike his uncle and that all of them lived at the house on McDonough Street.

"Family members informed officers that the defendant is a Latin King and had threatened some type of Latin King harm to" the uncle," court documents advised. "Family members also state that he may have feelings for (the female victim) and that may have sparked the attack. There also had been drinking going on that night. (The uncle) did not want to have charges brought against the defendant."

Loza-Rivas was also kept in the Will County Jail back in 2022, jail logs indicate.