Prosecutors last week said a five-time convicted felon got a gun and shot another man over the summer while free on “affordable bail” in an armed habitual criminal case. It’s the latest example of people being accused of committing violent crime while on bail for allegations of other gun or violent crimes.
Here’s that story and a couple of other cases our team discovered.
Shooting over Xanax bill
Last November, Judge Mary Marubio ordered five-time felon Cameron Johnson to be held without bail after prosecutors charged him with armed violence and resisting police. Two months later, another judge allowed Johnson to go home on electronic monitoring by posting a $500 deposit bond.
Johnson was supposed to still be electronically monitored on August 2 when police saw him brandish a handgun and shoot another man, according to prosecutors. The alleged victim suffered a graze wound to his left arm.
Detectives found surveillance footage from the 4000 block of West Madison that allegedly shows Johnson getting out of the driver’s seat of a car and arguing with the victim before Johnson drew a gun from his waistband. The victim walked to his own car nearby and pulled out his own gun, but never raised it toward Johnson, prosecutors said. At that point, Johnson fired several shots while bystanders, including a small child, were enjoying a summer afternoon on the street, according to prosecutors.
The victim stopped cooperating with police, but cops tracked Johnson down this month. Detectives said he admitted to possessing a firearm and arguing with the victim’s brother about payment for some Xanax.
Prosecutors last week charged him with armed habitual criminal and aggravated assault by discharging a firearm. Marubio once again ordered him held without bail.
On bail, shooting at cops
When Demetrius Williams allegedly fired shots at on-duty cops in the Chatham neighborhood over the summer, he was already awaiting trial for being a felon in possession of a weapon.
In September 2019, a witness pointed cops toward Williams as officers responded to a call of a person with a gun in the 8200 block of South Cottage Grove. Police stopped Williams and allegedly found a loaded gun in his waistband.
Police advised him of his right to remain silent, but Williams admitted to buying the gun on the street in Indiana about three months earlier and said he carries it for personal protection, cops said. The alleged admission was recorded by a CPD body camera.
Judge Susana Ortiz allowed Williams, age 25, to go home by putting down a $300 bond.
In August, while still on bail for the pending gun case, Williams was charged with firing a gun at a Chicago police sergeant who tried to stop him as he ran from a store, prosecutors said. Police returned fire but did not strike Williams.
He is now charged with attempted murder of a police officer. A judge ordered him held without bail.
Shooting gun with two pending cases
Jesse Davis, 27, managed to get arrested for illegal gun possession in March and again in April. He was released on affordable bail both times. In June, he allegedly got another gun and opened fire on a man. Federal prosecutors have now taken on his case.
On March 22, cops who watched a CPD surveillance camera “clearly” saw Davis point a handgun at a car and then get into a vehicle with the weapon, police said. According to court records, they pulled the car over, found a gun in his left pants leg, and 12 foil pouches of heroin in his pocket. Cops say he’s a known Four Corner Hustler.
Prosecutors charged him with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and manufacture-delivery of heroin. Judge Charles Beach allowed Davis to go home by posting a $100 deposit bond.
Just over a month later, police said they found a gun under the front passenger seat of a car where Davis was sitting during a traffic stop. Davis was carrying $2,587 cash, police said, and the gun had been reported stolen in Texas.
Judge Susana Ortiz allowed Davis to go home on electronic monitoring by posting a $200 deposit bond.
Less than three weeks after that, on May 14, prosecutors said Davis fired a gun into a Humboldt Park residence while shooting at someone. A Cook County grand jury charged him with two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, four counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago took the May and March cases to a federal grand jury this summer. Davis is now facing gun charges there.
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