Tag Archives: gun

Big John & Ramblin’ Ray 60 (seconds): Prom photo, Royal baby

John and Ray comment on a prom photo posted by Jay Feely where he was holding a gun with his daughter and her prom date saying it was only a ‘joke’. Plus the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth today, which calls for a food celebration.

Video appears to show man pointing gun before police shoot him

(CHICAGO) Video from the scene of a police-involved shooting in Mount Greenwood this weekend appears to show a man pointing a gun in the direction of police moments before he was fatally shot by an officer.

Chicago Police said they are analyzing a similar still taken from video footage shot at 111th and Troy. That’s where 25-year-old Joshua Beal of Indianapolis was killed Saturday afternoon after what authorities said was a road-rage incident involving a family that had just left a cemetery after burying a loved one.

But Britnie Nelson of Hickory Hills, a witness who videotaped the incident as it unfolded, insisted Beal didn’t point a weapon, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

The still image does not resolve the confusion over what happened in the moments before Beal’s shooting. For example, police are still awaiting ballistics tests to determine if Beal’s weapon was fired or misfired. One family member said he never fired the weapon that he had a license to carry.

Investigators from the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police shootings, were interviewing several witnesses and are taking steps to authenticate the videos and images that had been circulated, according IPRA spokeswoman Mia Sissac.

Sissac added that it appears multiple guns were fired in the shooting.

“While it is still early in the investigation, we can confirm that early ballistic evidence suggests that multiple firearms were discharged. It is our hope that people will wait until all evidence is in before making any conclusions about what happened yesterday evening,” Sissac said.

It all unfolded after Beal and his family left the burial of a relative who had been murdered in Indianapolis, according to a woman who identified Beal as her cousin. Video taken at the scene shows the incident led to a heated melee in the middle of 111th — with police, firefighters and pedestrians scattered amid the traffic.

Police and witnesses, meanwhile, gave vastly different accounts of what happened:

Police said the incident began about 3 p.m. Saturday in the 3100 block of West 111th Street, when an off-duty Chicago firefighter began to argue with motorists in a funeral procession who were blocking a fire lane. Police said the argument became “verbal and physical.”

An off-duty police officer was in a barbershop and saw the fight. He went into the street and identified himself as a cop, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

That’s when a uniformed sergeant driving to work at the nearby Morgan Park police station stopped and got out of his vehicle. The sergeant also announced he was a cop, Guglielmi said. In an earlier news release, the department said the sergeant observed “a male with a firearm in his hand.”

Both the off-duty officer and the sergeant pulled their weapons and fired at a man holding a gun when he failed to drop the weapon, Guglielmi said.

It’s unclear whether one or both of them hit the man, he said.

“Police suspect the offender’s weapon was fired or misfired during the exchange, and we are testing it,” Guglielmi said.

Nelson also said the incident began at the firehouse, where a firefighter got into an argument with the mourners, who were already distraught.

She said they continued arguing at 111th and Troy when a man in a red shirt “comes out of nowhere,” announced that he was a police officer and started swinging his gun around. She said the man went around to the passenger side of the car Beal was in and opened fire on him.

Guglielmi said the off-duty officer was injured in the melee and was sent to a hospital for treatment. The sergeant was not seriously injured, he said.

“The officer(s) involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for a period of 30 days,” police said in a statement.

About 10 demonstrators calling for police accountability in Beal’s death returned Sunday afternoon to the scene of the shooting and were met by a jeering crowd of more than 200 people, including several dozen members of a pro-law enforcement motorcycle club.

Chants of “Indict. Convict. Send those killer cops to jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell” were met by chants of “CPD!” and “Stop shooting cops!” as well as a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by motorcyclists in leather vests.

A line of Chicago Police Officers, many on bikes, formed around the small group of protesters who slammed the police department in a neighborhood filled with cops. Many from the crowd yelled at the demonstrators to “Go home!” A few waved signs reading “Support Law Enforcement. We won’t take your crap” and “We support CPD. Why are you here?”

A few hours later, members of the Black Lives Matter movement held a news conference in front of a South Side police station with members of the Beal family.

Beal’s sister, Cordney Boxley, asked: “Are we not important? Do our lives not matter? I thought racism was dead. But as I always stated, history repeats itself.”

When shown a still image of a man holding the gun at the scene of the shooting and asked to comment, Boxley said, “As far as that is concerned if you want to know anything legal about this case, you can contact our attorneys.”

“We don’t have any comment at this point,” said attorney Barry Spector, who is representing the Beal family and was reached late Sunday by phone.

Meanwhile, Democratic Cook County State’s Attorney candidate Kim Foxx said during a campaign stop that the question of whether the shooting was justified “will be worked out.” But she also added: “It’s deeply concerning.”

A spokeswoman for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez did not return a call seeking comment. Beal’s autopsy revealed he suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Chicago passes 2015 murder total with 4 months left in 2016

(CHICAGO) Chicago ticked past a pair of grim milestones as August passed into September. Chicago Police said 90 people were murdered in the city in August. A few hours into Sept. 1, the total number of murders in 2016 reached 469, exceeding the tally for all of last year.

The number of murders in August was the most in a single month during an already bloody year, and the most in a one-month span in 20 years, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Year-to-date, the city has endured a 50 percent increase in murders and a similar spike in other categories of violent crime, while also grappling with public furor over police tactics following the release last year of video of a CPD officer pumping 16 bullets into teenager Laquan McDonald.

August also saw the city’s crime troubles receiving national attention. While other large cities have notched significant surges in violence, the 50 percent increase in shootings and murders in Chicago was an outlier. Numerous news reports have noted that the number of murders in Chicago is greater than the total for New York City and Los Angeles combined.

After Chicago-based rap star and one-time aldermanic candidate Che “Rhymefest” Smith was robbed at gunpoint last Saturday morning, he issued a harsh critique of the police officers who took his report to his Twitter followers.

The day before Rhymefest was robbed, Nykea Aldridge, a cousin of Bulls star Dwyane Wade, became one of the few murder victims in the city to garner attention outside the city when Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, observed in a tweet that her death was a reason for African-Americans to vote for him.

As the long Labor Day weekend loomed, the police union urged members to turn down holiday overtime and stay home, and Gov. Bruce Rauner deflected calls from activists that he should send the National Guard into the city to tamp down violence.

Spencer Leak Sr. said he is only dimly aware of the news or statistics as he goes about his work, but to his staff and clients at Leak & Sons Funeral Home in Chatham, it is clear that something is going wrong on the streets of Chicago.

The business, founded by Leak’s father in 1933, has always drawn clients from the adjacent neighborhoods of Lawndale and Englewood, areas that have seen a disproportionate share of the city’s homicides.

“It takes a toll, physically and emotionally, when you are seeing so many beautiful, young black men and women that you are working on,” Leak said Thursday. “My philosophy is not to count the families that come to our funeral home. I leave that to accountants. We just say that it is too many, and that something must be done about it.”

CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi noted several positive trends in the year-to-year comparison of 2016 and 2015: There were nearly 20 percent more murder arrests this August than last, and CPD officers have taken 5,900 guns off the street through seizures and gun buy-back events, a 22 percent increase.

“That tells me that the police officers that have sworn to protect and serve are doing their jobs,” CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson said during one of several interviews with local TV stations on Thursday.

Returning to themes that the police chief has sounded in virtually every public appearance since he was appointed to the post earlier this year, Johnson said that a relative handful of repeat offenders drive most of the violence, and he called for longer prison sentences to keep them off the streets.

“Where we need help is holding these repeat gun offenders accountable for their actions,” Johnson said. “Right now in the city of Chicago, would you believe me if I told you, pre-trial, a person who steals a pack of hot dogs for retail theft does more time in jail than a gun offender does. That’s ridiculous.”

Two teens arrested after pointing gun at girl’s head in Naperville

Reece A. Swedowski | Naperville police

(NAPERVILLE) Two west suburban teenagers were arrested after pointing a BB gun at a girl’s head, then barricading themselves inside a Naperville apartment early Tuesday.

Reece A. Swedowski, 18, was charged with one misdemeanor count of aggravated assault; and Zachary Q. Kolar, 19, was charged with one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, according to Naperville police.

About 2 a.m., officers responded to the 900 block of Sheridan Circle after Swedowski got into an argument with a female and pointed a gun at her head, while Kolar threatened to pull another gun and point it at her, a statement from police said. The teens then fled before officers arrived.

A few hours later, officers found the teens at Swedowski’s apartment in the 2100 block of Allegre Circle about 5 a.m., but they refused to come to the door or come out of the apartment, police said.

The Naperville Police Special Response Team and negotiators responded and at 8 a.m., both suspects surrendered and were arrested.

A BB replica handgun was recovered from the apartment building, police said. No other weapons were found and no one was hurt.

Both Swedowski and Kolar, of Burr Ridge, were released on bond, police said.

Zachary Q. Kolar | Naperville police
Zachary Q. Kolar | Naperville police

UPDATE: Man argued with Megabus driver after accidental shooting

(DES PLAINES) A man who accidentally discharged his weapon while using the bathroom inside a Megabus traveling on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in Des Plaines Tuesday night was ultimately subdued by a passenger and held until police arrived.

About 11 p.m., the man – who was only said to be an adult – got into an argument with the driver after he discharged his weapon and asked to get off the bus, Illinois State Police said. The driver declined and the man went back to get his belongings from the back of the bus.

After securing his belongings he walked back toward the driver and stumbled, causing his pistol to fall out of his waistband, police said. A passenger saw the gun come out and quickly subdued the man and held him until troopers arrived at a parking lot off I-90, just east of Elmhurst road, police said.

No one was reported injured.

Police said Wednesday morning they were having a difficult time identifying the man as he was not cooperating with investigators and he had “no ID, no nothing on him.”

Further details were not available.

Shots fired toward off-duty police officer in West Town

(CHICAGO) Detectives were questioning three people Friday after gunshots were fired toward an off-duty Chicago Police officer in the West Town neighborhood Thursday night.

The shots were fired at 11 p.m. in the 2400 block of West Division Street, but no one was struck, police said.

The three, whose ages and genders weren’t known, were being questioned by Area Central detectives, police said Friday morning.

Additional details about the incident were not known Friday at 7:30 a.m.

Lemont woman arrested with loaded gun at Midway

                                                                         Faith Du Bois / photo credit: Chicago Police

(Chicago)  A southwest suburban woman was arrested Sunday morning after TSA agents found a loaded gun in her carry-on bag at Midway International Airport.

A TSA officer saw what appeared to be a loaded weapon in 58-year-old Faith Du Bois’ bag in the x-ray machine at Midway at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a statement from Chicago Police.

Du Bois, of the 800 block of Woodcrest Lane in Lemont, was arrested and charged with one felony count of boarding an aircraft with a weapon, police said.

According to a statement from the TSA, Du Bois was en route to Southwest Florida International Airport. The gun was a loaded 9 mm Walther.

The gun is the third firearm discovered in carry-on luggage at Midway in 2015, according to the TSA. Last year, six firearms were discovered at Midway.

Du Bois was scheduled to appear in bond court Monday.

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