Illinois man found guilty in violent home invasion with AR-15
Sean Brutto (DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office)
ITASCA, Ill. – An Itasca man has been found guilty more than two years after breaking into a home by shooting through a sliding glass door with an AR-15.
Sean Brutto, 37, was found guilty of four counts of home invasion and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied building. The verdict followed a three-day bench trial.
Itasca home invasion
The backstory:
The incident happened around 9:17 a.m. Jan. 19, 2024, when Itasca police responded to reports of a man with a gun attempting to enter homes in the 800 block of Willow Court. Officers were also alerted that shots had been fired.
Police found Brutto in the front yard of a home in the 700 block of Willow Court, armed with an AR-15. He eventually dropped the weapon and was taken into custody.
An investigation determined Brutto fired two shots in the neighborhood before firing another round through the rear sliding glass door of a home in the 800 block of Willow Court. The bullet shattered the door and struck a refrigerator.
According to prosecutors, the homeowner came out of a bedroom after hearing the disturbance and encountered Brutto in a second-floor hallway with the rifle. The two struggled, and the homeowner managed to disarm Brutto. However, Brutto took the rifle back as it was being passed down the stairs to another homeowner and eventually fled.
Officers later recovered a loaded AR-15 with one round in the chamber, along with a magazine containing 25 rounds and a box holding 19 rounds of ammunition in Brutto’s coat, prosecutors said.
What they’re saying:
“Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own home,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. “For the victims in this case however, that feeling of security was shattered when Mr. Brutto shot out a sliding glass door, entered their home and headed toward the bedroom while brandishing a dangerous weapon. Crimes such as this not only terrorize the immediate victims, but they also have a crippling effect on the entire community leaving residents in fear that they may be next.”
What’s next:
Prosecutors said Brutto faces between 26 and 50 years in prison when he is sentenced. He has been held at the DuPage County Jail since January 2024, when a judge denied his pretrial release.
Brutto’s next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 16.
The Source: The information in this report came from the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office and previous Fox Chicago news coverage.
