Lake Bluff man caught with loaded machine gun in Zion police station parking lot

A man was found with a loaded machine gun in the parking lot of the Zion Police Department after officers spotted him and learned he was wanted, prosecutors said.

Geovanni Rodriguez, 19, of Lake Bluff, was charged with possession of a machine gun and four counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Dino Katris said Zion Police Department detectives spoke with Rodriguez’s girlfriend on Aug. 9.

Detectives asked the woman to come to the police department to collect her belongings, at which point they served her with a warrant to collect a DNA sample.

Katris said other officers saw Rodriguez in the woman’s car in the parking lot and knew he had a warrant for his arrest.

This case stems from Rodriguez’s alleged participation in a gun sales transaction, where the gun involved was later linked to a Jan. 10 homicide in Zion, Katris said.

Officers were talking to Rodriguez when he picked up a bag near his feet.

Katris said Rodriguez refused to drop the bag and officers broke the window after he became uncooperative.

Officers discovered the bag contained a Glock handgun with an extended 30-round magazine that was loaded, Katris said.

It was modified with an auto sear or “switch”, which makes the weapon fully automatic.

Other items with Rodriguez’s ID were found in the bag, Katris said.

Katris said Rodriguez had just ended court supervision the previous month for a 2023 juvenile case in which he illegally possessed a gun.

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed a petition to detain Rodriguez pending trial in his latest case involving machine gun possession.

Lake County Judge Bolling Haxall granted the petition and returned Rodriguez to the Lake County Jail during a detention hearing late last month.

“There is no reason to own this other than to cause harm to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. That’s the purpose of a machine gun,” said the judge.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.