Man with car full of weapons, ammo out on probation after pleading guilty in Englewood shots fired

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Englewood community members are angry and demanding answers after a man who was found armed to the teeth with multiple guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his car after opening fire in a park last year was released on probation.

Residents want to know why he was released from custody two weeks ago, calling it a miscarriage of justice and calling on the prosecutor and judge involved in the case to step down.

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"Us as residents, we're outraged, because we're tired of the tale of two cities," said Darryl Smith, president of the Englewood Political Task Force. "Had that been my next door neighbor with a thousand rounds of ammo, with a loaded AR-15, my next door neighbor who looks like me would have gotten five to six years in the penitentiary."

Community activist Andrew Holmes joined residents in Moran Park more than a year after police said 30-year-old Alexander Podgorny of Woodridge shot off a shotgun there. When they arrived at the scene, Chicago police said they discovered a shotgun, three handguns, an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle, hundreds of ammunition and a hatchet. The police report said "all firearms were readily accessible and ready to be fired."

"The disturbing thing about this was that this guy was let go," Holmes said.

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According to court records, Podgorny changed his plea to guilty two weeks ago and was sentenced to 30 months of probation and six months in the Cook County Department of Corrections, but according to the Cook County Sheriff's office, he was released from jail the day he changed his plea.

"If I'm gonna come do the crime, we gonna do the time. That should go for everybody. It don't matter what color you are," said Michael Airhart, Englewood advocate.

Police said they also found handwritten notes that allegedly contained incoherent rants about references to mass shooting events.

Englewood residents are now decrying what they said is a two-tiered justice system.

"I don't want to make it a racial issue, but you gotta call a spade a spade. It's here," said Smith.

"Who are you really caring about? Seems like you cared more about him than you care about this community because you let him off scot-free," said Holmes.

ABC7 has reached out to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, to Podgorny and to his family about the plea deal, but have not heard back.