Chicago police are continuing to seize more than one illegal firearm per day on and near the Magnificent Mile during December. It’s a stunning statistic for the city’s premier retail shopping district.
Most recently, police allegedly found a handgun under the passenger seat of Antwan Dickerson’s car during a traffic stop a couple of blocks west of Michigan Avenue on Christmas afternoon. Prosecutors said the gun was loaded, and its serial numbers had been removed with a grinder.
Dickerson, who was convicted in 2018 of illegally possessing a firearm and in 2014 of two armed robberies, is a registered gun offender according to prosecutors. He’s now charged with armed habitual criminal and faces a sentence of six to 30 years if convicted, Judge John Lyke said during his bond hearing Saturday.
Lyke set Dickerson’s bail at $100,000 and ordered him to go onto electronic monitoring if he can post the required 10% deposit bond.
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged 24-year-old Demetrius Leverston with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after cops allegedly found a loaded handgun under the driver’s seat of his car at Michigan and Superior.
Police engaged Leverston for illegal parking around 3:30 p.m., and learned that he was driving on a suspended license, prosecutors said. That led to a further investigation and the alleged firearm discovery.
Judge Lyke set his bail at $1,000.
Other arrests and gun recoveries were made at Michigan and Pearson on Wednesday afternoon and near Michigan and Erie last Saturday, according to CPD records.
Last Sunday, a convicted felon was allegedly caught with two guns after crashing into a CPD squad car near Michigan and Walton.
On December 18, police recovered three firearms and charged two men with illegal gun possession after a large fight broke out inside a Mag Mile department store.
