19-year-old man charged with firing gun in connection with Willowbrook Juneteenth shooting

WILLOWBROOK, Ill. (WLS) -- Prosecutors only accused the suspect of firing a gun, stopping short of any murder charges.

"Until this incident, I am afraid for my life," said Willowbrook resident Fredearia Smith.

Residents gathered at the site of the shooting on Friday night.

"Now something is happening, but we know it's a lot of more people that's involved in this," said Marcia Harris.

Despite the arrest, there are still concerns as the family of the man who died is planning legal action.

Multiple rounds of gunfire sprayed into a crowd of hundreds who gathered for a Juneteenth celebration at a strip mall in unincorporated Willowbrook.

Now, months later, DuPage County deputies, arrested 19-year-old Anthony Mothershed on Wednesday on charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Prosecutors said Mothershed was with a group of people during the celebration when he began shooting in the direction of others, and then ran away. More than 20 people were wounded by gunfire.

Reginald Meadows, a 31-year-old father of two, was killed.

DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin has not yet filed any charges for Meadows' murder, but said in a statement, "The violent conduct alleged against Mr. Mothershed is outrageous and will not be tolerated in DuPage County."

He went on to say, in part, "The investigation into what turned a peaceful celebration into a deadly shooting continues to be extremely tedious and time-consuming.... We will vigorously continue our investigation to hold anyone involved in this incident accountable."

The arrest comes more than a week after Meadows' fiancée, Ashley Miller, spoke at a DuPage County Board meeting, expressing her family's frustration.

"I've never seen a mass shooting of such caliber take so long to get answers," Miller said. "My kids deserve answers, so I am here today, to not only to be the voice of Reginald, because his life was taken that night, but I am the voice for my two children, because if I'm not their voice, then who will be?"

The Meadows' family attorney issued a statement to ABC7, saying, "Given the lack of transparency by the DuPage County Sheriff's Department with respect to the Willowbrook shooting, we are in the process of initiating legal proceedings to ensure the findings related to the Willowbrook shooting, both before and after the shooting are, shared with the family of Reginald Meadows.''

Mothershed did appear in court on Friday morning, and was denied pre-trial release. He will be arraigned later this month.