Shocking Crime In Pizza Ranch: 3 Men, 1 Woman Arrested By Shorewood

SHOREWOOD — Shorewood Police Chief Phil Arnold announced the arrests of three men and one woman in connection with a wild crime involving a stolen gun at the Pizza Ranch buffet-style restaurant while customers were eating their lunch. The incident unfolded on Tuesday, around 12:35 p.m.

In a news release, police said, "Patrons and employees of the Pizza Ranch restaurant on NE Frontage Rd in Shorewood were shocked when two men ran in to the establishment, one chasing the other and then engaged in a physical confrontation. The man being chased yelled out that the other had a gun and someone dialed 911."

Arnold said the four people later taken into custody were from Joliet and Plainfield:

Treston Adams, 31 of Joliet, on charges of armed habitual criminal, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, defacing identification marks of a gun.

Willis Davis, 36 of Joliet, on an outstanding state warrant.

Mercede Sohol, 32 of Plainfield, on charges of possession of a controlled substance.

Maurice L. Lain, 40, of Joliet, who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

According to the Shorewood police chief, two of the suspects ran out of the Pizza Ranch, getting into a black Nissan. Another caller informed 911 that the getaway driver was displaying a handgun.

As the first Shorewood officer arrived to the call, the officer saw the vehicle leaving the parking lot, and people who had evacuated the Pizza Ranch building pointed to that car.

Police said the vehicle was eventually stopped in the 19200 block of NE Frontage Road and three people were inside. According to police, officers recovered a gun with the serial number defaced, as well as controlled substances in the vehicle.

Additional officers were alerted to a fourth suspect running south of the Pizza Ranch, police said. He was stopped and identified as Maurice L. Lain, 40 of Joliet.

Officers learned Lain had an active warrant for his arrest and placed him into custody.

On Wednesday, Patch reported that Shorewood police made a grisly discovery of a dead dog, while they were next door to the Pizza Ranch, at the Econolodge property.

According to the chief, Shorewood officers were conducting an unrelated investigation when they saw the dead dog crated inside the back of the Chevy Tahoe, which was not running in the parking lot of the motel.

Tuesday's outdoor temperature peaked at 92 degrees in Shorewood.

"That is why we were in the area, but the two are not related," Chief Arnold wrote Joliet Patch on Thursday.

The dead dog was found inside Garland Norris' Chevy Tahoe while the 52-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina man went shopping for a couple of hours while staying at Shorewood's Econolodge, according to Arnold.

Norris was charged with cruel treatment of animals, a Class A misdemeanor.