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| Federal authorities say this Feb. 17th surveillance image shows Gaston Tucker (inset) running from a CPD traffic stop at top right. | CPD; U.S. Attorney’s Office |
A man who allegedly dropped a handgun during a traffic stop in Old Town just three months after he was paroled for shooting a man is now facing federal charges.
On Feb. 17th, a Chicago police officer approached a vehicle that was parked in front of a hydrant in the 1300 block of North Sedgwick and asked the driver for his identification. From the back seat, 32-year-old Gaston Tucker provided the officer with an Illinois Department of Corrections ID. But while the officer ran the identifications in her car, Tucker ran from the vehicle, prosecutors said.
Local security guards later told police that they saw a man hide something under a dumpster behind a nearby housing facility. Officers looked under the trash bin and found a loaded .40-caliber handgun. Review of surveillance video showed Tucker placing an object under the dumpster as he ran from the traffic stop, an FBI agent said in a newly-filed affidavit.
He was arrested in the 2000 block of North Kostner about four hours after he allegedly ran from the car. Police did not say how they found him.
Tucker made a series of incriminating statements after his arrest during phone calls that were recorded at Cook County Jail, the FBI agent said.
“Boy, I quit…I ain’t carry no [gun] no more. I’m through,” Tucker reportedly said in a phone conversation on Feb. 20th. “Only way I gotta do that is I gotta get out of Chicago…I can’t be without it in Chicago, you know how that sh*t go.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago announced today that Tucker has been charged with one federal count of being a felon in possession of a handgun that traveled in interstate commerce. U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez ordered Tucker held without bond.
State prosecutors previously charged Tucker with felony unlawful use of a weapon in February. That charge will likely be dropped in favor of the federal case.
