Man Charged with Shooting Outside Bridgeview Mosque

A southwest suburban man is accused of shooting another man in the back Friday afternoon after a prayer service at a Bridgeview mosque.

Rame R. Joudeh, 41, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm, all felonies, according to a statement from Bridgeview police.

Joudeh confronted the 36-year-old man about 1:05 p.m. in the 9200 block of Beloit Avenue in Bridgeview, police said. The shooting happened after a prayer service, while the men were outside the mosque and adjacent to the Aqsa School.

Joudeh, of the 18000 block of Buckingham Drive in Orland Park, disabled the man by spraying a chemical in his face, then opened fired, police said.

The man, a Burbank resident, suffered a graze wound to the back and was treated at the scene, police said.

Joudeh ran away after the shooting, but was later apprehended by Orland Park police. A magazine loader was found in his vehicle, police said.

Police said Joudeh is familiar with the man and the attack is viewed as intentional and not a random crime.

“This was an isolated incident between two people who knew each other and at no time was there a threat to any of the children in the nearby Aqsa School or the mosque,” Bridgeview Police Chief Walter Klimek said in the statement.

Joudeh is scheduled to appear in bond court Sunday.

Joudeh was previously charged by Orland Park police in connection with an April 2011 domestic violence incident, police said.