Police recovered two guns and made one arrest in separate incidents on a two-block stretch of Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park late Sunday and early Monday, according to police records.
Around 8:24 Sunday evening, police responded to a call of several people passing a gun around in the 1300 block of North Milwaukee. Officers approached a group at the scene for investigation, and one man — Maliek Green — ran away, prosecutors said.
Cops allegedly noticed a bulge in Green’s hoodie pocket and chased after him. As an officer tried to take Green down, the 24-year-old punched the cop in his mouth, prosecutors said. Another cop felt a hard object in Green’s hoodie pocket as the officers struggled with him, according to prosecutors.
That’s when Green reached into the pocket, pulled out a gun, and threw it into the middle of Milwaukee Avenue, prosecutors said. He ran again but was eventually caught, according to the state’s allegations.
Police recovered a gun from the street, and prosecutors charged Green with Class X felony armed habitual criminal, two counts of felony aggravated battery of police, and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
He was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery on May 10, is the subject of an active order of protection, was released from parole for being a felon in possession of a firearm last month, and has a 2017 conviction for robbery, according to prosecutors and police records.
His defense attorney, Genevieve O’Toole, argued that he “does not have a history of violence” and urged Judge Charles Beach to deny a prosecutor’s request to have Green held without bail. Beach sided with prosecutors.
Just a few hours after Green was arrested, police responded to another call of a person with a gun two blocks away from the first scene. In that case, a 911 caller reported seeing a man with a Draco AK47-style weapon in a bag that someone else was trying to grab on the 1500 block of North Milwaukee.
As police arrived, a black Chevy Impala sped from the scene, crashed into a parked car, then continued driving away southbound on Milwaukee. Officers found a handgun lying in the street, according to a CPD report.
The man who reportedly had a bag with an assault-style weapon in it escaped in the car. Witnesses said he was a Black male who wore glasses, a black baseball hat, red suspenders, a white short-sleeve shirt, and plaid pants.