'Bored' Teens Charged in BB Gun Drive-Bys

At least four people were shot, injured

By MATT BARTOSIK

Updated 8:15 AM CST, Fri, Jan 9, 2009

Print Email Share TWITTER FACEBOOK

Getty Images

When most teenagers are bored, they hang out at the mall or play video games. But when two teens from Park Ridge and Wicker Park were looking for some "harmless fun," they decided to go on a drive-by BB-gun shooting spree.

Michael Bobek, 19, of Park Ridge and Daniel Kolasa, 17, of Chicago, spent a half-hour Tuesday night driving around the Near Northwest Side shooting at people with an air rifle from the back of Bobek's red van. At least four people were struck, two of which were seriously injured and hospitalized.

The teens were arrested after Chicago police received numerous calls about the red van. Officers pulled the vehicle over and found Kolasa in the back with a BB gun and a bag of marijuana.

Bobek later told the police he and Kolasa were bored. They thought "shooting people in the butt would be funny."

But the two hospitalized victims aren't laughing.

Emma Arnold, 31, was walking home in Wicker Park when she was shot in the back. According to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto, Arnold had to be hospitalized, but the pellet is too close to her spine to be removed.

Just a few minutes after Arnold's attack, Joe Rada, 27, was shot as he was jogging. X-rays showed the pellet had grazed his lung and diaphragm and lodged in his liver, causing internal bleeding.

Both Kolasa and Bobek were charged with aggravated battery with a weapon. Kolasa also was charged with possession of cannabis. Judge Maria Cecil set bail Thursday at $400,000 for Kolasa and $300,000 for Bobek.

Neither of the teens has a criminal history. Both families declined to comment.