Man Tasered Near Joliet West Football Field, Gun Recovered: Joliet Police

JOLIET — A 33-year-old Joliet man who Will County prosecutors say scaled the chain link fence at the Joliet West High School athletic fields during the middle of the night while trying to avoid capture by Joliet police has lost his attempt at regaining his pretrial release under the SAFE-T-Act.

Only Joliet Patch was in Courtroom 202 to cover Monday afternoon's pretrial detention hearing for Gregory Brown, who faces charges from Joliet police of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a weapon by felon, having no FOID, resisting/obstructing a peace officer, aggravated assault and theft.

The Joliet police used a Taser on Brown while on the Joliet West High School property in order to take Brown into custody, prosecutor Rose Aviles informed Judge Derek Ewanic, who ruled in favor of the state's attorney's office after hearing her present the evidence leading to Brown's latest arrest.

The prosecutor told the judge that Brown was eventually found hiding under a tree at the Joliet West High School football field.

Eight live rounds of ammunition were found in the gun, but no bullets were in the chamber when the gun was recovered, the prosecutor said.

"He knows he's not supposed to have any firearms," Aviles told Judge Ewanic.

Brown, it turned out, has a 15-year criminal history and since his release from the Illinois Department of Corrections in 2023, Brown was out on pretrial release for a sexual assault crime in Sangamon County, Aviles told the judge.

According to the press release for Brown's arrest, Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English advised the following events took place:

On Sunday, at 12:34 a.m., the officers responded to an apartment in the 200 block of Madison Street for a report of a stolen gun. Once there, the officers learned that Brown allegedly stole his girlfriend’s handgun from her apartment in the afternoon hours of March 10.

Officers also learned that Brown was back at her apartment early Sunday morning, and it is alleged that he displayed the handgun and pointed it at his girlfriend, threatening to shoot her.

Authorities say Brown then left the apartment with the handgun, and Joliet police later located Brown a short time later near Larkin Avenue and Oneida Street. He ran from the officers, but they quickly caught up to him near the Joliet West High School football field, according to English.

Police said Brown struggled with arresting the officers, and he was arrested following a taser deployment. The handgun was recovered in the area where Brown was seen running from the officers, English pointed out.

Jail records show Brown in the Will County Jail in 2023, 2018 and 2017. He comes from the 300 block of North Broadway Street.