A tow truck driver and a semitrailer driver apparently engaged in a road rage argument for several miles before the tow truck driver opened fire and killed the Northlake man driving the semi, authorities said Wednesday.
More details emerged during the bond hearing for Anthony Tillmon, 34, of Lansing, who has been charged with the first-degree murder of Eduardo Munoz, 43, of Northlake, who was shot to death along Interstate 88, near the Interstate 294 interchange around 4:50 p.m. Friday.
Prosecutors said Tillmon eluded police for four days after the shooting before surrendering Tuesday.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said Tillmon has not given a statement to police, and authorities do not know what sparked the altercation. However, witnesses reported that the tow truck driver and Munoz appeared to be flailing their arms and yelling at each other for more than 3 miles before the shooting, which took place near Oak Brook.
Witnesses said the tow truck driver reached across his passenger seat and fired multiple shots before driving off, prosecutors said. Munoz, who was hit three times, was able to safely bring his semi to a halt, an act that Berlin said likely averted tremendous damage or injury to other motorists.
Munoz was still in the cab of his truck when paramedics responded. He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital; he died of his wounds.
Authorities said Tillmon was a longtime employee of Wes’s Service, a Calumet City towing company, and that GPS and I-Pass records place the tow truck Tillmon was driving that day at the scene of the shooting.
At Wednesday’s bond hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Jim French outlined the evidence authorities say tie Tillmon to the crime. Police allege that after the shooting, Tillmon drove to a Wal-Mart parking lot in Lansing and met his girlfriend, driving in her car to her residence so he could “clean up.”
The girlfriend later dropped Tillmon at the tow yard, and another employee drove him to the Wal-Mart so he could retrieve his truck, French said.
A search of the tow truck yielded a 9 mm shell casing, along with Tillmon’s green work vest emblazoned with his nickname, Hank, the prosecutor said. Witnesses described the tow truck driver wearing a green vest, French noted.
Employees of the company, according to prosecutors, said Tillmon had recently showed off a pistol. Berlin said, though, that authorities have not recovered the weapon.
Rory McGinty, an attorney representing Wes’s, said Tillmon had been a
10-year employee with no previous incidents and a good employment record.
“We’ve got no explanation for this,” he said.
He said the company has a policy that explicitly bars its drivers from carrying guns.
Munoz’s fiancee, Michele Salerno, said he was on his way to Northlake, where he grew up and still lived, after being on the road during the week. She said he had a commercial driver’s license in Florida.
Salerno said she met Munoz in fifth grade when they both attended Roy Elementary School in Northlake. He later attended West Leyden High School and had three grown children, a granddaughter and a grandson on the way, she said.
“We’ve been together for a long time. We were just talking, looking for rings, planning, finally getting at a point in our lives where we can enjoy ourselves, and this is what happens,” Salerno said. “We had a lot of plans.”
Munoz was an active member of U-Turn Covenant Church in Northlake, according to the Rev. Larry Perez who had known Munoz through the church for about five years. He called Munoz’s death “devastating.”
Capt. Robert Meeder, commander of Illinois State Police District 15, said Tillmon’s arrest demonstrated that people who commit gun violence on Illinois expressways will be held accountable.
“The loss of life through violence is never acceptable,” Meeder said at a news conference after the bond hearing.
Berlin said motorists who become embroiled in road clashes should avoid escalating the situation.
“The public needs to understand that getting involved in a road rage incident never leads to a good result,” he said.
DuPage County Judge Joseph Bugos ordered Tillmon held in lieu of $3 million bail.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Tillmon faces a minimum sentence of 45 years in prison and a maximum term of life imprisonment. His next court appearance was set for May 22.
“He was a family man, hardworking, and he loved serving,” Perez said.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. Nereida Moreno is a Chicago Tribune reporter. Freelance reporter Erin Gallagher contributed.
