A bullet fired by a south suburban man in Federal Plaza last week pierced a window of the historic Wintrust building across the street and lodged in an employee break room, federal prosecutors revealed in court Monday.
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The new information was presented during a detention hearing for Edmund Horvath, who is facing a federal weapons charge alleging he rode a bicycle down a ramp into a restricted garage on Federal Plaza in Chicago’s Loop early on the morning of Oct. 20 and fired several gunshots.
No one was struck by the gunfire. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Regina Jeon noted Monday that one of the bullets struck a window of the Wintrust building — the hulking, 1924 neoclassical building that stands at the main intersection of Chicago’s financial district — and wound up in a break room that is used by employees. The shooting occurred only a “few hours before rush hour” when many more people would have been arriving for work, Jeon said.
After his arrest, Horvath admitted to being the one who fired the shots and “was apologizing for shooting at people who were chasing him,” Jeon said. In reality, surveillance footage showed Horvath riding his bike alone down the ramp and that no one was behind him, she said.
Horvath also told authorities “his mistake was staying put after firing the gun and that he should have kept moving,” Jeon said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeannice Appenteng ordered Horvath detained pending trial, citing the danger he posed to the community as well as evidence he has a diagnosed mental condition that has gone untreated. The judge also noted that the 9mm handgun he was accused of firing had been reported stolen from a vehicle in Chicago just six days earlier.
“An individual who is wielding such a weapon recklessly, without a license…in a manner that could harm citizens, is not only dangerous, it is clearly beyond the bounds” of what can be accepted by society, Appenteng said.
Horvath, 36, of Lynwood, was charged in a criminal complaint with illegal possession of a 9mm handgun by someone previously convicted of a crime of violence — namely domestic battery.
Horvath’s attorney, Jeff Levine, argued on Monday that Horvath was not charged with actually shooting the gun, only possessing it. There was also no accusation that Horvath was the one who stole it, he said.
Cook County Criminal Court records show that, in addition to the misdemeanor domestic battery conviction, Horvath has a criminal history that includes the 2019 arrest on murder charges stemming from the scalding death of his 10-month-old daughter, Akira.
According to prosecutors at the time, Horvath had claimed he found Akira’s skin was “red and peeling” while she was being given a bath. But prosecutors said the little girl’s injuries were consistent with boiling water being poured on her body and could not have been caused the way Horvath claimed, court records show.
Court records show Horvath eventually pleaded guilty in 2021 to reduced charges of misdemeanor reckless conduct causing bodily harm. He was sentenced to 948 days of time served in the Cook County Jail and ordered to take parenting classes, records show.
In court Monday, Jeon said Horvath was asked about his criminal past after his arrest last week. He told police “he had been charged with felonies before but none of them ever stuck,” she said.