Good Guy with a Gun #272: Schiller Park, IL
I hate road rage stories, and wish people would de-escalate. But if they don’t, it's best to be prepared. | Original incident: July 30, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
Dad1 was driving a Chevy Traverse during the evening rush with Mom and three kids in the back when he and the driver of a Nissan Sentra got into it on the highway. The dispute followed them off the exit, and the two cars ended up stopped side by side in traffic.
There had been no crash. It sounds like Dad might have “bumped” the Sentra — that’s according to the Sentra driver’s family — but it appears that nothing was broken or bent.
The Sentra driver got out and started walking over.
Dad and the Sentra driver both had guns. Both drew them.
We don’t know who fired first, but shots went both directions. The Sentra driver was struck fatally in the chest, and his passenger, a woman, was wounded.
Dad, Mom, and the three kids were uninjured.
The man who died was Malachi N. Johnson, 19, of Streamwood. He was rushed to a trauma center and pronounced dead a little after six that evening, and the Cook County medical examiner ruled it a homicide.
Dad held a valid FOID card and CCL, and after Schiller Park police and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office worked through the evidence and interviewed everyone involved, they landed in the same place: self-defense.
“After a thorough review, we concluded that the totality of the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to file criminal charges related to this incident,” the state’s attorney’s office said.
Johnson’s sister doesn’t buy it.
I know my brother did have a weapon on him. I’m not denying it, but his weapon was in his waist when his body was found. So how did he shoot first? How is this self-defense?
I don’t see a response to that specific question in the press, but the police rarely respond to those kinds of accusations in these kinds of situations.
I’ve been calling the the Traverse driver “Dad,” which may be unfair, since it paints him in a good light that Johnson doesn’t receive. So let’s fix that.
Johnson was 19, expecting his first child that December. He had worked at Portillo’s for months to buy his first car before his mother helped him get the Nissan he was driving that night — he needed it to to a job at Amazon. His family remembers him as funny and lighthearted — the kind of person who filled a room. He had gotten in an argument with his mother earlier that day, but had ended the conversation saying “I’m sorry” and “I love you.” Those were his last words to her.
He may have been a generally good man. But none of that explains why he got out of his own car, in the middle of a road-rage dispute, and walked toward a stranger’s car.
It wasn’t worth it.
Michelle Yarnell lives a few blocks from where it happened and drove up on the scene just after the shots. It’s changed how she drives.
“I used to be a yeller and a bird-flipper,” she said, “and I had to let all that go.”
Good policy for anyone with a short fuse and a steering wheel. Better policy still for anyone who’s also carrying.
Sources
Local News
CBS Chicago covered both ends of this one — the breaking shooting and the self-defense ruling three days later.
1 killed, 1 wounded in road rage shooting in Chicago’s western suburbs (Original incident, with 1:14 video)
Police: Deadly road rage shooting in Chicago’s western suburbs was self-defense (No-charges ruling, with 0:27 video)
The Sun-Times covered the story and talked to Johnson’s family.
Man killed, woman wounded in Schiller Park road-rage shooting (Original incident, with Michelle Yarnell’s account of the aftermath)
Shooter acted in self-defense during fatal Schiller Park road rage: cops (No-charges brief)
Family demands probe after officials say no charges will be filed in fatal Schiller Park road-rage shooting (Family reaction)
ABC7 ran three separate pieces, including the fullest quotes from a witness who saw the aftermath.
Man killed, woman injured in apparent road rage shooting in Schiller Park: police (Original incident, with 0:22 video)
Man killed in Schiller Park road rage shootout ID’d; CCL holder fired in self-defense, police say (ID and self-defense ruling, with 0:19 video)
Schiller Park residents concerned after deadly road rage shooting: ‘I don’t want to live in fear’ (With Michelle Yarnell in the 1:46 video)
Cardinal News had the most granular scene reporting of anybody — from specific maps showing the locations of the vehicles right down to the fluid still leaking from the Sentra four hours later.
Streamwood Teen Killed in Road Rage Shooting on Irving Park Rd Near Mannheim Rd Schiller Park (Original incident)
Deadly Road Rage Starts on I-294, Ends with Fatal Self-Defense Shooting on Irving Park Rd in Schiller Park (Investigation conclusion)
Below you can see almost ten minutes of footage from the scene: no discussion or analysis, just video.
Other coverage included:
Fox 32: Suspect in deadly Schiller Park road rage shooting acted in self-defense: police (with 0:28 video)
Patch: No Charges For Shooter In Fatal Road Rage Incident: Schiller Park PD
WGN: Man killed, woman wounded in apparent road rage shooting in Schiller Park (with 0:25 video)
2A / Specialist Media
Luke McCoy at USA Carry framed it as a lesson in de-escalation, and rightfully so. Road Rage Dispute Escalates to Fatal Shootout; Second Shooter Cleared in Self-Defense
Brandon Curtis at Concealed Nation gave similar advice, and linked to an article he had written specifically about de-escalation.
Let me echo their stance: De-escalation is especially important for anyone who’s carrying publicly.
No coverage actually says it was Dad, Mom, and their three kids — but it was a man, a woman, and three children. I’m guessing, but c’mon.
We all know people given to drink shouldn't carry, but people given to anger are often worse -- the drinker may not always be drunk, but the man given to anger always could get angry -- and usually does if there's the least reason. Such a one has no business with a gun.