The Chicago Tribune
LOMBARD, Ill. — A Lombard man who emptied a handgun at two police officers questioning him about a stolen $8 bottle of vodka, wounding one and ending his career, was sentenced Wednesday to 65 years in prison.
Paul Grygo, 59, of the 2200 block of South Grace Street was convicted in May of the attempted murders of Officer Jerry O’Meara and Lt. James Glennon. O’Meara was shot in the left arm and had to retire from the department.
“Thank God for bad aim or else we would be sentencing the defendant for two counts of murder,” said DuPage County Assistant State’s Atty. Tim Diamond.
On Wednesday, O’Meara told Judge Kathryn Creswell that when he was shot, “my children were on my mind.”
O’Meara, who said he has only about 50 percent of the use of his left arm, works for DuPage County courthouse security.
Because state law requires Grygo to serve 85 percent of his sentence, he will not be eligible for release until he is 110.
On Sept. 2, 2004, Grygo pushed aside employees at the Jewel store in Lombard while walking out with the vodka bottle, authorities said. The employees, who recognized him from a past theft of alcohol, called Lombard police, who went to Grygo’s apartment.
According to testimony from the three responding officers, Grygo opened his door, holding a handgun to his chest and shouted, “I will kill every one of you.” O’Meara and Glennon turned down the hallway as Grygo fired five shots at them, one of which struck O’Meara.
Copyright 2008 The Chicago Tribune