Tory Gardner, charged with hitting golfer on Chicago course rampage, held without bond
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The 30-year-old Cicero man who is charged with aggravated battery for hitting and seriously injuring a man while rampaging across a Chicago golf course in his car ordered held without bond Thursday.
Tory L. Gardner appeared in court in Skokie to face charges of aggravated battery to a senior citizen with great bodily harm and unlawful use of a weapon after he drove onto Bobby Caldwell Golf Course in the city's Forest Glen neighborhood Monday evening.
Prosecutors said Gardner got onto the golf course using the maintenance driveway.
Witnesses told CBS News Chicago they saw Gardner in his black SUV "weaving in between trees, flying down fairways, driving on greens."
Prosecutors said multiple golfers tried to stop him, and for a time his SUV was caught in a rope used a fencing on the course.
Prosecutors said Gardner got out of the vehicle with a knife as a golf course employee tried to stop him. The employee then punctured the SUV's tire, hoping that would put an end to the rampage.
It did not; Gardner drove around the course at high speed before another employee jumped in his own Honda sedan and took off behind him while warning other golfers about what was happening.
"This poor employee, he's driving like a little gray sedan, chasing this big SUV," said Ed Waters, who was golfing golfing at the time and witnessed the event. "He's trying to pit maneuver this guy, he's yelling at golfers 'Please get out of the way!' HIs voice is cracking."
Waters said he took cover behind and tree and when he saw the driver, he described "with gnashed teeth, raged, like fist clenched on the wheel."
During this chase Gardner allegedly struck a 70-year-old golfer on the fifth hole, seriously injuring him. The victim has not yet been identified, and remains in the ICU with multiple brain bleeds and a hematoma on his leg.
Prosecutors said Gardner didn't stop after striking the man, not even as the golf course employee — still driving his Honda — crashed into Gardner's SUV. This continued until police arrived and arrested him.
Prosecutors said Gardner told police he was using the golf course as a short cut and admitted he knew he'd hit someone. Prosecutors he later said he hit someone because he was yelling at him, and expressed no remorse.
Court records show he has been arrested and charged multiple times for traffic crimes, most recently pleading guilty to driving with a suspended license in 2023. He has also been charged with DUIs twice before.
His next court date is not yet known.
