Lockport man charged with firing shots outside wake
By Brian Stanley bstanley@stmedianetwork.com January 31, 2013 9:56PM
Updated: March 2, 2013 12:15PM
JOLIET — Police have arrested a Lockport man, the brother of a man who survived a Jan. 22 gang shooting, for allegedly firing a gun Monday outside a funeral home where a wake was being held.
About 4:25 p.m., a patrol officer heard shots and saw Jeremy Hoehn, 21, shooting in the parking lot of the Minor-Morris Funeral Home in the 100 block of Union Street, police Cmdr. Al Roechner said.
He said Hoehn threw down the gun and fled as the officer approached. No injuries were reported, but a car and nearby house were struck by bullets, police said. They said officers recovered the gun and shell casings from the parking lot and shell casings of a different caliber gun from another Union Street driveway.
Visitation had just ended at the funeral home for Christopher Perry, 24, who was slain Jan. 22 in a shooting in the 200 block of Hunter Avenue, according to police. They said Perry and Joshua Hoehn, 23, were walking out to a car when a sports utility vehicle drove up and the passenger opened fire.
Joshua Hoehn was hit in his shoulder and leg but survived, while Perry was shot in the back and died at Saint Joseph Medical Center. Police say both victims have “gang connections,” and no suspects have been identified in Perry’s slaying.
Jeremy Hoehn, of 520 Parkview Lane, is Joshua Hoehn’s younger brother, police said.
“The officer who made eye contact was able to identify him from video from the police car cameras at the wake,” Roechner said.
On Thursday afternoon, police learned Jeremy Hoehn was at a relative’s house in the 400 block of Leach Avenue, set up surveillance and arrested him on charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a gang member, police said.
Police got a search warrant for the house and found ammunition that Jeremy Hoehn admitted was his, and he also “admitted to being the shooter from the (funeral home) parking lot,” Roechner said.
