21-year-old charged in Rock Island shooting

By Dustin Lemmon | Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A local man with a criminal history including a 2005 car chase in which police fired gunshots at him has been charged with a weekend shooting in which he allegedly struck another man in the leg.

Robert L. Bomar Jr., 21, is charged in Rock Island County Circuit Court with a felony count of aggravated battery with a firearm. The Class X charge carries a six- to 30-year sentence if convicted.

Bomar was not in custody as of Tuesday. His bail is set at $500,000.

The shooting occurred about 11 p.m. Saturday in the area between 22nd and 23rd avenues and 39th and 41st streets. The 21-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital.

Bomar was sentenced to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections in late 2005 for the chase in which he allegedly tried to run over a Moline police officer on a motorcycle.

Bomar was found guilty in Illinois of fleeing from police and several counts of damaging property. He was convicted of felony criminal mischief, eluding, assault on a police officer and possession of marijuana in Iowa.

At the end of the chase, which crossed the Mississippi River, police fired at Bomar’s tires at close range in the 1300 block of Grant Street in Bettendorf, without other cars around, when Bomar swerved a second time toward the Moline officer.

According to a spokesman for the IDOC, Bomar was in custody between local jails and prison from May 31, 2005, to March 6, 2006. He had a parole violation after his release and was in custody again from Sept. 7, 2006 to Feb. 16. His current address was unavailable.

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com.