TJ Maxx shooter pleads not guilty; attorney says ‘quote, unquote’ victims should be jailed and not his client

QUINCY — Despite attorney Ryan Schuenke’s assertion that the wrong person is lodged in the Adams County Jail, Judge Holly Henze denied a motion to grant Alan Pacheco pre-trial release Wednesday morning in Adams County Circuit Court.

Pacheco, 21, also was arraigned after the motion hearing and pled not guilty to five felony charges stemming from a July 6 shooting incident in the TJ Maxx parking lot at the Prairie Trails Crossing shopping center. 

Judge Scott Larson denied pretrial release for Pacheco during his first appearance in Adams County Circuit Court on July 9. Schuenke argued during the hearing that Islam D. Woodson and Terrance D. Horton attacked Pacheco and his girlfriend as they sat in his vehicle. He said Pacheco acted in self-defense when he shot Horton and fired his weapon at Woodson but intentionally shot at the ground to scare him.

Schuenke said he had obtained mitigating information about the incident since July 9. He said he had watched “30 to 40 hours” of video showing the altercation from different cameras in different stores in the shopping center.

“The video that we’ve obtained shows, in our opinion, that the ‘quote, unquote’ victims are seen in the TJ Maxx videos … stalking or basically surveilling my client and his significant other,” Schuenke said. “They were not there in the store, looking to shop. They were in the store looking over the aisles, looking in their direction, following them around the store when my client approached them.”

He said Pacheco was threatened by Horton, who had a weapon. Pacheco and his girlfriend then finished their shopping.

“They left the store without incident and did not in any way escalate the situation or attempt to escalate the situation,” Schuenke said.

As Pacheco tried to leave, Schuenke said Horton and Woodson pulled their vehicle behind Pacheco’s vehicle and approached the driver’s side window. 

“It is difficult to see from all the camera angles I’ve seen what exactly is transpiring at the window of the vehicle, but it is our position that (Horton and Woodson), at that point, attacked my client unprovoked,” Schuenke said.

Schuenke also noted that Horton is a convicted felon, pleading guilty in October 2023 to aggravated battery in a public place. Horton also has been charged with burglary and assault in a case in Phelps County in Missouri and with domestic assault in a case in Audrain County. Schuenke suggested Horton should be charged with vehicular invasion or aggravated battery in connection to the altercation with Pacheco.

“I know the prosecuting attorney’s office has the discretion on what to charge and who to charge, but the totality of this circumstance is clear from the evidence once you review it,” Schuenke said. “The two aggressors in this case are Mr. Horton and Mr. Woodson. But for their conduct, none of this happens. But for their escalation, none of this happens.

“It seems patently unfair in this case that the aggressors in this case are still walking the streets of Adams County, theoretically ready to assault or attack any other citizens of the state or the city of Quincy. My client was defending himself — and it’s becoming more and more evident as to the self-defense claim that he has asserted from the start is a real and valid claim — and (he’s) the one sitting in jail at this point.”

Schuenke said Pacheco was willing to surrender his firearm, as well as his FOID card to prevent him from buying a gun, as part of pretrial release conditions. 

First Assistant State’s Attorney Todd Eyler scoffed at that idea.

“The suggestion has just been made that I haven’t countered the argument of the condition of taking his gun,” he said. “The reason I didn’t is because we all know, right, nobody ever goes out and buys a gun illegally. That never happens. I didn’t think I had to actually say that to counter that argument, but the suggestion that if we take away his gun and his FOID card and don’t give him the ability to go purchase a gun … wow, that solves everything, because everybody always follows the law. They never do anything they’re not supposed to do.

“Yes, I’m being facetious.”

Eyler called Schuenke’s argument an attempt to try the case in the media, “since we have the media right here listening to this.” He also said it was a “smear attempt” against Horton and Woodson. He said the only information Larson didn’t have when he originally denied pretrial release was Horton’s criminal history.

“Nowhere in this statute … does the criminal history of a victim (matter) — and when you’re shot, you are a victim,” Eyler said. “You may not be the most sympathetic victim, and I don’t get to, nor does anybody in our office, get to pick our victims. Because I assure you, if I could create and pick our victims, I would always have the most sympathetic victims, but sometimes you’ve got to dance with who took you there. Whether you don’t like it or not, that’s what you’re stuck with.”

Eyler said a charge has been filed against Horton. He did not specify the type of charge or if Horton had been arrested.

“They will get their day in court and get what they have coming to them, just as Mr. Pacheco will,” Eyler said.

Henze said Pacheco will remain in the Adams County Jail. She also a claim of self-defense does not apply to a pretrial release determination.

“I can think of various scenarios under release with those conditions (suggested by Schuenke) that the victims, even if they continue to be the aggressors, could create a threat to the public at John Wood Community College (where Pacheco was a student last year) or at the defendant’s workplace (where he works as an electrical contractor),” she said.

“If these individuals, who Mr. Schuenke argued are bad guys, do have criminal records, and Mr. Pacheco is out and attending school and working, these individuals could very easily be aggressors again and again. There are many ways to get guns and other weapons, and I find that could create a threat to the general public at those locations if he is released.”

Pacheco’s case was placed on the November jury docket. His next appearance in court is set for Oct. 9.

Pacheco has been charged with:

• Two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, a Class 1 felony punishable for between five and 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, for discharging a firearm at Horton and Woodson; 
• One count of aggravated battery with a firearm, a Class X felony punishable for between six and 30 years in prison, for discharging a firearm and causing injury to Horton.
• One count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a Class 4 felony punishable for between one and three years in prison, for knowingly possessing a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield 9mm handgun when he was not on his land, his home or his fixed place of business.
• One count of attempted first-degree murder, a Class X felony punishable for between 25 years to natural life in prison, in that he knowingly discharged a firearm with intent to kill Horton.

The first-degree murder charge was added before Pacheco was indicted by a grand jury on July 18.

“The last time we were here, this was not charged as an attempted murder,” Schuenke said. “Certainly on my review of the evidence, I believe that case is what I’ll call a reach.”