On October 12, 2025, officers responded to a shooting in the 2300 block of W. Antoinette. A 22-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the head. During the investigation, three juveniles were hiding inside a nearby residence along with multiple firearms, including a stolen handgun. These juveniles do not live at that residence. They ran there after the shooting, attempted to evade police, and attempted to conceal their involvement.
What makes this even more troubling is that these juveniles are not first-time offenders. Between the three of them, they have been arrested 27 times over the last four to five years. These arrests include:
• Multiple gun-related charges
• Burglary of a motor vehicle
• Criminal trespass
• Domestic battery
• Aggravated battery of a police officer
• Vehicular hijacking
• Resisting and obstructing police
In mid-September, one of these juveniles was arrested for Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Possession of a Firearm, and Resisting and Obstructing Police. In that incident, the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) was forced to deny accepting the juvenile for detention. Due to current Illinois juvenile detention guidelines, he was released back into the community. Less than 30 days later, that same juvenile is involved in another case connected to illegal guns and violence.
In this most recent incident, the Juvenile Detention Center once again initially denied accepting these juveniles. Let me be clear: JDC does not make these decisions on its own. They are required to follow a state-mandated juvenile detention screening system that is failing our communities. This system is broken. It allows repeat violent juvenile offenders to avoid detention and return to the streets, even when they pose a clear threat to public safety.
This system must be examined, reformed, and rebuilt. It is not protecting our communities. It is not helping our youth, and it is absolutely not working!
I want to thank the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office for stepping in, challenging the
denial, and ensuring these juveniles were detained based on the severity of their actions and the threat they pose. Without their intervention, these offenders would have been released again.
The police do not decide whether someone is detained, how long they are held, or what
consequences they face. When people ask, “Why are they already back on the street?” the
answer is simple: Because the system releases them, not the police!
We share the same frustration as this community. Our officers are risking their lives arresting armed juvenile offenders. Many of these juveniles are repeatedly released with no meaningful consequences and no intervention services to prevent reoffending. That does not create rehabilitation. It creates more victims.
This is not just a police problem. This is a system problem, and it is a parenting problem.
When there is a lack of accountability, a lack of structure, and a lack of parental involvement, we will continue to see violent juvenile crime increase.
• Police are making arrests.
• Police are seizing guns.
• Police are responding to violent crime.
• Police are not being supported by a system that keeps violent offenders detained long
enough to protect the public or require mandatory intervention.
I fully support stronger laws that hold parents accountable when they knowingly allow their
children to carry guns, engage in violence, and terrorize neighborhoods. These juveniles are not raising themselves; someone is allowing it, and that someone must also be held
responsible.
The Peoria Police Department will continue doing our job. We will continue arresting violent
offenders, seizing illegal guns, and protecting this community. But we cannot and will not
continue being the only line of accountability!
The safety of Peoria is not negotiable.
• If you are a parent, be present, be responsible, be involved.
• If you are a legislator, we need your help to improve the juvenile justice system and
close the gaps that put our communities at risk.
• If you know something, say something. Silence protects violent offenders.
Eric Echevarria
Chief of Police
Peoria Police Department