Man Drives Onto Runway, Climbs Into Aircraft at Illinois Airport

A man broke into an Illinois airport in which he drove his car on a runway and climbed into a parked aircraft on Tuesday morning, August 20. However, his stay at the airport was cut short as he's now facing multiple charges.

Confusion At Campbell

The Lake County Sheriff's office responded to reports of a Toyota speeding back and forth across a Campbell Airport runway. The person on the runway was 30-year-old Erik Deanda-Gonzalez of Zion. In a statement from police chief Christopher Covelli, Deanda-Gonzalez later parked the Toyota and entered multiple hangars next to the runway.
 

Police found Deanda-Gonzalez hiding inside a plane that was parked beside a taxiway. Employees of Campbell Airport informed police that Deanda-Gonzalez wasn't an employee and didn't own any of the planes at the airport.

Officers were able to get the man out of the plane, but while approaching his car, he ran the other way and tried to crawl back inside the plane. He was forced off the plane a second time and taken into custody.

Deanda-Gonzalez didn't give police an explanation as to why he was at the airport or what his intentions were. After a search of his car, police found ammunition, but no weapons or firearms. The vehicle was later towed to an undisclosed location.

Where's Wahlberg?

According to prosecutors, Deanda-Gonzalez was at the airport to look for the movie character "Bob Lee Swagger" from the 2007 film "Shooter". In the movie, the character, Mark Wahlberg, shoots down a helicopter, but no scenes involving planes or airports occur.

Deanda-Gonzalez was held at the Lake County jail until Wednesday, where he stood before First Appearance Court. He was then charged by the Lake County State's Attorney's Office with criminal trespass at an airport, criminal trespass on an airport runway, criminal trespass to property, resisting a peace officer, and unlawful possession of firearm ammunition.

However, prosecutors informed Judge Michael Nerheim that the charges were "non-detainable" under the Illinois SAFE-T Act. This means he can be released until his trial due to his offenses meeting "pre-trial conditions".

“Our legislator and their wisdom decided not to make criminal trespass to an airport detainable, so you are not able to be detained,” Judge Nerheim told Deanda-Gonzalez.
 

The man's next court appearance is on September 3.

Campbell Airport, 50 miles north of Chicago, is considered a public-use airport, meaning the airport doesn't require a prior approval from the airport owner to be accessed (https://www.statista.com/statistics/183496/number-of-airports-in-the-united-states-since-1990/#:~:text=Public%20use%20versus%20private%20use%20airports&text=A%20public%20use%20airport%20is,the%20term%20airport%20are%20also) still, it wouldn't hurt for this airport to consider hiring at least one armed security guard so the trespasser could simply freeze when confronted and the situation could be dealt with as swiftly as possible.

But what are your thoughts on this story? Should smaller airports beef up their security? Share your two cents in the comments section below!