ORLAND PARK MAN REMAINS IN CUSTODY IN CONNECTION TO FATAL OAK FOREST SHOOTING
An Orland Park man was ordered to remain in custody in connection with a fatal shooting in suburban Oak Forest, authorities announced Wednesday morning.
Omar Zegar, 37, was arrested Sunday after the shooting that killed Mohannad Othman and wounded three others. He was charged with a felony count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon with a revoked firearm owner’s ID card, Oak Forest police said.
At a detention hearing for Zegar at the Bridgeview courthouse, prosecutors said an AR-15-style weapon was used in the shooting and that over 20 shots were fired.
The shooting was captured on surveillance video from a neighbor’s home.
At 5:22 p.m. Sunday, Othman pulled into the driveway of his parents’ home in the 5500 block of Babette Court. A red vehicle pulled in behind him seconds later, according to surveillance video shown to the Chicago Sun-Times. Othman then entered the house along with two men from the red vehicle. Family identified one of the men in the video as Zegar.
Moments later, Othman chased Zegar and another man out of the home and toward the street as the other man swung an object at Othman, the video shows.
At 5:25 p.m., Othman rushed away from the men and back toward the driveway, where he instantly fell, the video shows. He was taken to a hospital, where he died of a gunshot wound to his head, according to the Oak Forest police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police later found another vehicle that was involved in the incident in the 5900 block of 159th Street, where a 19-year-old woman was found shot and was hospitalized. Zegar’s attorney said the woman is his fiancée and a relative of Othman’s.
Zegar was ordered to remain in custody because of the investigation into the shooting. His next court date was set for May 17.
Zegar appeared in court earlier on Wednesday for a domestic battery case involving the mother of his children, who over the weekend tried to prevent him from going through with the engagement.
“Omar had full intention of taking care of this woman,” a childhood friend of his who didn’t want to be named told the Sun-Times at the courthouse.
Zegar was allegedly invited to the Oak Forest home Sunday to discuss the engagement, but his fiancée “suspected an ambush,” the childhood friend said.
As the Cook County state’s attorney gathers more information, further charges may be considered, authorities said.
“Mohannad was a victim to a senseless crime,” his sister Hanadi Othman said in a statement shared Tuesday. “The law should charge his murderer to the furthest extent.”