From the State’s Attorney:
CONVICTED FELON FOUND GUILTY OF SHOOTING AT 3 PEOPLE, A CONSERVATION BUILDING, AND A HOME, AS WELL AS TERRORIZING MCHENRY RESIDENTS DURING HOURS LONG CRIME SPREE
McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese announces that Nicholas Lopardo, 27, of Lake Villa, Illinois has been found guilty of 25 counts including charges for
- shooting at 3 people,
- stealing a car, and
- damaging property at numerous locations
following a bench trial before the Honorable Judge Tiffany Davis.
The Honorable Judge Tiffany Davis has scheduled the matter for sentencing on September 19, 2025 at 1:30pm.
Over the course of the 10-day bench trial, the State’s Attorney’s Office called 46 witnesses who described Lopardo’s hours long rampage and the damage that he left behind.
Evidence at trial established that on March 31, 2023, Lopardo came to McHenry to visit a friend.
Following a day of drinking and drug use, Lopardo became upset when a woman denied his romantic advances.
Enraged, Lopardo fired numerous gunshots toward the friend’s home before departing in his vehicle.
A McHenry City Police officer located Lopardo and his vehicle as it was leaving the area.
The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but Lopardo fled from the officer at a high rate of speed.
Minutes later, Lopardo’s vehicle pulled into a yard at a residence in unincorporated McHenry.
Lopardo abandoned his running vehicle in the yard and proceeded across the street to a residence where he broke into a garage and stole a vehicle.
He then fled the area at a high rate of speed.
Lopardo drove the stolen vehicle to a nearby conservation property where he plowed through a closed front gate and ran the vehicle into a closed garage door.
He shot into a building on the conservation property numerous times.
Lopardo also drove onto a nearby farm, crashing into property on the farm, causing extensive damage.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the residences in unincorporated McHenry where Lopardo’s vehicle was found, and the other vehicle was stolen.
A deputy with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office was driving down Barreville Road in a marked squad vehicle with lights activated when he passed Lopardo in the stolen vehicle.
Lopardo fired a .357 revolver at the deputy, narrowly missing the deputy and instead striking the rear driver’s side door.
Lopardo abandoned the stolen vehicle in a ditch off nearby State Park Road.
While on foot, Lopardo again fired his .357 revolver numerous times at a woman driving on State Park Road.
The woman was working during the early morning hours, delivering newspapers.
Lopardo then walked a short distance to the intersection of Barreville Road and State Park Road.
Once there, he fired his .357 at a detective from the McHenry City Police Department who was driving down Barreville Road.
The bullet missed the detective by inches, striking the moving vehicle on its rear driver’s side door.
Following these shootings, Lopardo entered a nearby neighborhood where he continued his crime spree by firing his gun into a house.
Lopardo ran up and down the streets of the neighborhood, attempting to enter multiple homes.
In the process Lopardo broke windows on 5 houses and otherwise damaged homes or fences at 4 additional homes.
He abandoned his gun in a yard, next to a child’s outdoor toys.
By the time Lopardo was located and detained, more than one hundred police officers were dispatched to the neighborhood where he was found.
During closing arguments, Freese referred to Lopardo’s actions that evening as a “four-hour reign of terror” in the city of McHenry.
Freese is grateful for the tremendous efforts of the McHenry Police Department, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department, and members of the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS) in apprehending Lopardo without serious injury to anyone involved.
She wishes to commend all members of law enforcement for their investigation of this case and their testimony at trial.
Freese also wishes to thank and congratulate McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office Victim Witness Coordinator Kelly Gallagher for her extensive work in coordinating the preparation and testimony of the witnesses called during Lopardo’s trial.
This case was prosecuted by the McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese and Deputy Criminal Chief Brian Miller.
