Dupage Policy Journal

A habitual offender accused of shooting at Lombard Police after a failed convenience store robbery had been released for serious crimes in Cook County before being picked up in DuPage County.

DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said in a press release that 21-year-old Romaine Turner, of the 700th block of N. Menard Avenue in Chicago, should have never been on the streets given that he had been arrested and was on bond for a serious shooting incident in Chicago. 

Turner allegedly brought his crime spree to DuPage County where he is being held. 

Turner's Chicago arrest log.

On Oct. 21 at 8:30 a.m., a concerned citizen called police to report that Turner and another man had entered the the 7-Eleven convenience store located at 1 W. St. Charles Rd. in Lombard wearing ski masks. When nearby police units appeared on scene, Turner and his alleged accomplice ran away.

Turner is accused of firing a single gunshot at police while they chased him. Nearby St. John Lutheran School was put on a "soft lockdown" during the incident.

He was found later that morning and taken into custody.

As a multiple felon, Turner was on bond from Cook County as an “armed habitual criminal” at the time of the crime. 

Turner is being held in DuPage County without bond for aggravated discharge of a firearm at a police officer, armed habitual criminal life and being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon. He is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing for two Class X felonies on Nov. 9.  

He faces sentences of between 10 and 45 years if convicted.

Turner has a long arrest record in Chicago, where he has been arrested five times over the past three years. He was last arrested and was on bond for a March 1 shooting incident for which he is facing aggravated battery with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Chicago Police released him on March 2 on a $2,500 bond.

Berlin showed his displeasure in Cook County’s decision to allow Turner to be released on a low bond after the earlier shooting incident in Chicago.

“There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that Mr. Turner should have been given a cash bond the first time he was charged as an armed habitual criminal,” Berlin said. “Providing a twice-convicted felon the opportunity to post a relatively small bond, just $2,500 in Mr. Turner’s Cook County case, put the public and law enforcement at great risk, as alleged in this case. I commend the Lombard Police Department for their quick apprehension of the defendant in this case as well as the Villa Park Police Department for their assistance." 

Lombard Chief of Police Roy Newton said bond would be denied for Turner in the Lombard incident.

“I would like to thank our responding officers for their efforts as well as the Villa Park Police Department for their invaluable assistance in taking the suspect into custody,” Newton said. “I would like to express my gratitude to the numerous civilians who provided valuable information to our officers which allowed us to quickly apprehend the suspect." 

Earlier this year Newton, decried Cook County’s habit of releasing habitual offenders out on very low bonds after another man was picked up in DuPage County after allegedly murdering a seven-year-old girl and assaulting a police officer in a crime spree that ended in a chase through Lombard and neighboring municipalities.

“Those offenders go out and continue to commit more crimes, not just in Lombard but all adjacent suburbs to the city,” Newton told DuPage Policy Journal at the time.