Woodridge man, 29, arrested in Englewood with several loaded guns, ‘incoherent rants’ about mass shootings, officials say

A suburban Woodridge man was arrested in the South Side’s Englewood neighborhood earlier this week after police found several loaded weapons and notes with ramblings about mass shootings in a minivan, according to Cook County court documents.

Chicago police officers responded to a “ShotSpotter” alert at 3:30 p.m. Thursday after one round was fired in the 1200 block of West 57th Street, where they found Alexander Podgorny, 29, near a minivan with its driver and passenger doors open, according to a Chicago Police report.

One of the officers looked at nearby camera footage which showed a round from what looked like a shotgun had been fired into a nearby park, the report said.

In a pat-down search, officers found a handgun in Podgorny’s left pocket with a round in the chamber and live rounds in the magazine, the police report said.

In the front driver’s seat of the minivan, officers found a shotgun loaded with seven live rounds, and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with a live round in its chamber and in its magazine, the report said.

Additionally, in a plastic bucket on the front passenger seat, police found at least two more handguns.

“All firearms were readily accessible and ready to be fired,” officers wrote in the police report.

Officers also found more than 300 shell casings, an ammunition box, six pistol magazines with live rounds and two AR magazines with live rounds and a Beretta shotgun, according to the report.

Additionally, in the minivan, police found “a large number of handwritten notes” and documents with “incoherent rants and references to mass shooting events,” police said in the report.

Officers found Podgorny had a valid firearm owners identification card and no concealed carry license, the report said. Officers completed a “clear and present danger” form, which is intended to revoke a person’s FOID card.

Podgorny, who was charged with five counts of unlawful use of a weapon charges, all of which are felonies, appeared in court on Friday, where Cook County Judge Maryam Ahmad set a $300,000 cash bail.

Several messages to a lawyer for Podgorny, listed as James A. Podgorny, went unanswered.

Podgorny is due back in court on Friday.