PEORIA — A man who was booked into the Peoria County Jail over the weekend for shooting at a police officer was defending his girlfriend's home, said the county's top prosecutor.

But that wasn't what police initially thought.

Jodi Hoos, who was sworn in as state's attorney on Sunday, said Jordan A. Cremer, 27, of 2712 N. Rockwood Drive, was outside of a house he was staying at when he saw someone who was attempting to enter the house. He fired a shot into the air in an effort to scare the intruder away, said Hoos.

"At the time, the police thought he was shooting at the officer, but after the investigation unfolded, it was believed that he was shooting in the air to scare off the intruder who was breaking into his home," she said. "So he shot it in the air as the officer was coming to the scene. He didn't know the officer was even there, according to him."

No one was injured during the incident, which occurred in the 300 block of East Virginia Avenue at about 4:25 a.m. Sunday.

Cremer, who has a valid FOID card and no criminal record in Peoria County, was not charged with the more serious aggravated discharge of a firearm which would allege he was shooting at the officer or, at least, in the direction of the officer. Instead, he faces a charge of reckless discharge of a firearm, which alleges the weapon was shot in the air. His bond was set Monday at $7,500, and he has since posted the money to be released from custody.

Officers were called to the area by a woman who called police asking for help. When asked what the problem was, the call was disconnected. When the dispatcher attempted to call back, no one answered, according to a news release from Peoria police. In that release, distributed to reporters hours later, police initially believed that Cremer was the suspect and ordered him to drop his weapon. However, either Cremer didn't hear or he had already fired his gun, prompting the officer to shoot back.

What hasn't changed is that Cremer then got into a car and fled east on Virginia for about a block before crashing into the front porch of a house in the 2600 block of North Missouri Avenue, according to police. He was arrested without further incident, and a handgun he allegedly threw from the car was recovered, police said.

The officers involved in the incident will be placed on critical incident leave per department policy. There were three alerts from the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system within a minute of each other, police said. Under Illinois law, the Illinois State Police investigate any police-involved shootings, and the Peoria police will turn over any evidence, including any dash cam or body camera footage, to the state police as part of the inquiry.

When reached for comment, PeoriapPolice spokeswoman Amy Dotson referred all calls to the state police, which were investigating the matter.

Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz.