Federal prosecutors in Chicago charged a Lynwood man on Wednesday with illegally possessing a loaded firearm outside the Kluczynski Federal Building in downtown Chicago earlier this week, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced. Edmund J. Horvath, 36, is charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. A complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.
According to the criminal complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Horvath possessed a loaded handgun shortly after 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday on a vehicle ramp leading toward an interior garage entrance of the Kluczynski Building, at 230 S. Dearborn St. in the Loop. A federal security officer approached Horvath through the window of the garage door and asked him to leave; the officer then heard gunshots and saw flashes, the complaint states. Chicago Police officers were dispatched and arrested Horvath on the ramp. No one was injured.
An ATF affidavit reported by the Chicago Tribune adds that security footage showed Horvath riding a bicycle down the garage ramp, and that police found him alone inside the interior garage entrance with the bicycle, with multiple shell casings and a 9mm pistol nearby. After his arrest, Horvath allegedly admitted possessing and firing the gun and said he opened fire because people were “chasing him,” officials said, according to the Tribune report. Those are allegations in an affidavit, not findings.
The discharged rounds caused interior and exterior damage to the Kluczynski Building and to surrounding infrastructure, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The Tribune reported Horvath pleaded guilty in state court in 2024 to domestic battery, after being accused of punching an ex-girlfriend's arm and damaging the windows of her 2017 Nissan Rogue; asked about that conviction, he allegedly said, “I think so.”
Horvath was scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court in Chicago on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeannice W. Appenteng. The charge was announced by U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros, ATF Chicago Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Amon, Federal Protective Service Region 5 Director Samuel J. Bell and Interim Chicago Police Superintendent Fred Waller. Sources: U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois (press release, Oct. 21, 2026); Chicago Tribune reporting (Oct. 21, 2026). Awaaz Punjab first reported the shots fired outside the federal building on Tuesday, when the suspect had not been named and charges were pending.