Three charged in Elkhorn drive-by that allegedly involved man later killed by deputy
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 15 for an Illinois woman believed to be the driver in a drive-by shooting that involved an 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy two days later.
Sarah M. Brittain, 27, of Elgin, Ill., is to appear in court next week on charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with the use of a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle toward a person and endangering safety by reckless use of a firearm, all as a party to a crime and a repeater.
According to the criminal complaint:
Brittain is believed to have been the driver of a white Cadillac Escalade from which shots were fired twice at an Elkhorn home Jan. 19. Bullets entered the bedroom of Alexander Maurizzi, who was in his room at the time, and Maurizzi’s grandmother’s room. Maurizzi told police he suspected the shooting was retaliation from a court case he won earlier that week because Cameron Casillas did not show up for court.
Casillas, 18, of Milwaukee, also is charged in the case. He was scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 28 on the same charges as Brittain.
According to the criminal complaint:
Casillas shot at the Hartwell Street house from the vehicle Brittain was driving. Rochele Sorg, 19, of Elkhorn, was also in the vehicle at that time, and told police the gun did not go off when Casillas tried to shoot it.
Sorg also was charged with the same offenses as Brittain and Cassillas. She pleaded not guilty Feb. 13 and is scheduled for a status conference March 27.
After the trio’s first attempt to shoot at the house, they picked up Alfredo Emilio Villarreal, 18, of Janesville, and Martin Villarreal, 19, of Delavan, from Alfredo Villarreal’s girlfriend’s house, which is near the house that was shot at, according to the criminal complaint.
Martin Villarreal told police the group drove by the house again, and Casillas pulled out the handgun and gave it to Alfredo Villarreal, who shot at the house. Martin Villarreal said the group eventually went to Sorg’s house where Casillas and Alfredo Villarreal wiped the prints off the gun, which Casillas said he buried in the backyard, according to the criminal complaint.
Two days later, Walworth County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Lagle shot and killed Alfredo Villarreal when he tried to escape at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center in Elkhorn. Villarreal was an inmate at the Walworth County Jail, and Lagle was guarding him during a visit to the hospital for undisclosed medical reasons.
Martin Villarreal was not charged in connection with the Jan. 19 shooting.
