64-year-old detained fired shots during road-rage furor on the Dan Ryan: prosecutors

Ronald Willis (Cook County Sheriff’s Office)

A 64-year-old man has been detained after allegedly firing a gun at another driver’s car during a road-rage encounter on the outbound Dan Ryan Expressway.

Ronald Willis was arrested after investigators identified his vehicle as the one seen following the victim’s vehicle around 5:11 a.m. on September 29 near 31st Street, according to a detention petition.

Illinois State Police troopers responded to reports of gunfire on the outbound Dan Ryan that morning and met with a 26-year-old man who said he heard two gunshots before something struck the back of his Chevrolet Malibu. He told police that a red SUV then pulled alongside his car, its driver honking the horn and waving wildly before firing again from the passenger side. One bullet hit the Malibu’s right rear taillight, according to prosecutors.

The victim followed the SUV while calling 911, but dispatchers instructed him to stop pursuing the vehicle, according to a police report. He pulled over near 57th Street and waited for the police to arrive.

Investigators used license plate reader data to identify Willis’s red SUV as being directly behind the victim’s car before the shooting. Troopers arrested Willis during a traffic stop near his home.

Willis allegedly admitted to firing the gun on the expressway, telling police that the other driver had cut him off multiple times and that he fired two shots into the air because he feared for his life. He said he then pulled alongside the car and fired another round upward to “scare” the other driver, but having no intention to kill him, according to the report.

Police allegedly recovered the firearm from Willis’s home during a court-authorized search. Judge Ankur Srivastava ordered Willis detained on a charge of aggravated discharge of a firearm toward an occupied vehicle.

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