STERLING – A Sterling man admitted shooting another man to teach him a lesson: Leave my family alone, a police detective testified Thursday.

Octavius L. Zackery told police he was afraid he’d killed the man, so he fled to Chicago and threw the gun in Lake Michigan, Detective Mike Henry testified at a preliminary hearing.

Whiteside County Associate Judge Bill McNeal ruled that the evidence justified a trial, and Zackery, 35, will be arraigned Wednesday. He is charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of weapons, and possession of a firearm without a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card.