Woman Detained After Walgreens Shooting

Deon P. Doby, 54, was ordered held in custody without bail in Lake County, Illinois, following a preliminary hearing on November 2. The judge denied her request for release, citing the severity of the incident and the conflicting accounts provided by both sides. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 19.

Prosecutors filed four felony charges against Doby, including one count of reckless discharge of a firearm and three counts of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon. Each charge is classified as a Class 4 felony. She was initially stopped in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on October 6, where officers found a loaded .45-caliber Glock pistol in the passenger seat of her black Toyota SUV.

The incident began outside a Walgreens at 2200 North Lewis Avenue in Waukegan. Witnesses reported that Doby and a man argued before she fired a shot toward him. Surveillance video showed the projectile hitting the ground five to seven feet away from the man. Rush-hour traffic and pedestrians filled the parking lot at the time, and Doby was facing the street while aiming the weapon.

Doby told police after her arrest that a "twin sister" had been in the vehicle and might have fired the gun. Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Windmoeller noted that the video showed no one else in the car and no one resembling Doby running away. He described the claim as inconsistent with the visual evidence captured by store cameras.

Defense attorney Gregg Wolpoff offered a different account. He stated that Doby was on her way to a gun range when a customer behind her in line insulted her and threatened to put her family in a body bag. Wolpoff said the man later pulled up beside Doby’s car, and a BB shattered her window. He argued the gun discharged unintentionally due to a faulty safety latch while Doby tried to remove it from its case.

Judge D. Christopher Lombardo granted the detention petition, stating that no conditions less restrictive than jail would be sufficient. He noted that Doby drove away with a loaded handgun on her passenger seat rather than in a case. The judge characterized the defense's initial explanation as distinct from the later claim of an accidental discharge.

Wolpoff highlighted that Doby has no criminal record since 1997, served in the Air Force from 1990 to 1996, and cares for her 78-year-old mother. She has 15 adult children. The state argued her lack of a criminal background did not negate the danger she posed to the community.

Doby was booked into Lake County Jail after being transferred from Kenosha County authorities. She appears to have a valid Illinois Firearm Owner’s Identification card, a point of contention between the two legal teams during the hearing.