A Libertyville man is facing a hate crime charge after authorities said he posted a sign with a bullseye and the words “Good Shot ICE,” the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Derek M. Webb was charged with the felony count and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, prosecutors said. It is the second such incident in Lake County in recent days.
Details about Webb’s arrest were not immediately available. Court records said Gurnee police arrested him.
GPD public information officer Shawn Gaylor said Tuesday that police would not be releasing additional information because the investigation is ongoing. She described the investigation as active and said it involves multiple agencies.
According to police and jail records, Webb is a 38-year-old Libertyville resident.
State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said the “Good Shot ICE” sign was directed at creating fear in the area’s Latino community.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE, was widely criticized earlier this year for its heavy-handed and sometimes violent tactics across the country, including for its role in the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
“Clear threats of physical violence that are motivated by hatred, bias, or racism must be strongly condemned in the community and responded to by the legal system,” Rinehart said in a statement. “True threats are not protected by free speech, and they are particularly dangerous when they are directed towards groups who are historically and wrongfully attacked.”
He said police have collected evidence in the case “across dozens of scenes.”
“Finally, I’d like to express my gratitude to the brave members of the community who came forward to stand against this hate,” Rinehart said. “Like all of us, these members of the community hope for a brighter future in which hate is forever extinguished from our community. Hate must have no home in Lake County.”
In a similar situation, officials in Waukegan said this week they were alerted to a poster on a telephone pole that depicted Mayor Sam Cunningham, who is African-American, as an apelike creature.
The poster and another saying “MAGA” were found Sunday evening near Franklin and Hickory streets.
“Seeing yourself depicted through a painful, historic racial image is upsetting,” Cunningham said Tuesday. “It is one of the oldest and most hateful racist acts in the country’s history. Combined with hateful attacks on immigrants, these anonymous acts of intimidation are a cowardly attempt to spread fear, division, and prejudice.”
Waukegan police said there have been similar incidents reported since April, and that the investigation into them is ongoing.
