Police have allegedly recovered two guns in separate incidents on the streets of Wrigleyville since last Wednesday. One arrest stemmed from an apparent road rage incident between a driver and a bicyclist on Clark Street. The second man, who’s on bail for a pending gun case, allegedly carried a gun while yelling Latin King gang slogans.
Most recently, a group of Wrigleyville partiers flagged down police on the 3500 block of North Clark to report that a man was walking around the area, waving a gun, and shouting “King Love,” a gang slogan.
Cops searched the area and saw Christian Arce, 26, yelling and holding his hand inside a satchel on the 1100 block of West Eddy, according to prosecutors and a CPD report. Prosecutors said that officers who approached Arce saw an extended ammunition magazine and a loaded 40-caliber handgun sticking out of his bag.
He is charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a firearm without a valid Firearm Owner’s ID card. Arce was on bail for two cases when police arrested him Sunday.
In one case, he is accused of having a gun in his car when police stopped him for a traffic violation on January 23. He posted a $500 bond to get out of jail on that charge. Then, on April 27, he was charged with misdemeanor possession of ammunition without a valid FOID card.
After hearing about the Wrigleyville allegations, Judge Susana Ortiz said Arce was “yelling some sort of a garbagey slogan regarding some type of a gang life or a gang activity. That leads nowhere, absolutely nowhere.”
“It is literally garbage,” Ortiz continued. She then ordered Arce held without bail for violating the conditions of bond in his pending gun case. She set bail for the new charges at $100,000. Arce will need to post $10,000 and go onto electronic monitoring if he becomes eligible for release, she said.
In the earlier case, a motorist allegedly pointed a gun at a bicyclist during a traffic dispute around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 2. The biker told police he had to swerve to avoid being struck by a pickup truck as he rode along Clark Street in Wrigleyville. When the bicyclist and truck driver stopped for a red light, they reportedly began arguing.
According to prosecutors, the driver pulled a gun from his center console, pointed it at the bicyclist, and said, “what’s up,” according to prosecutors. Police responded to a 911 call about the incident and found a red Dodge Durango matching the one described by the bicyclist parked on the 3800 block of North Clark. Officers detained the truck’s driver, Jonathan Motta, nearby.
Prosecutors said cops found a handgun in the center console of Motta’s truck, but the weapon wasn’t loaded. Motta, 35, admitted to pulling the gun on the bicyclist, prosecutors said. He has no prior arrests.
Motta is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and possessing a firearm without a FOID card. Judge Mary Marubio ordered him to pay a $100 deposit to get out of jail. He’s due back in court on June 11.
