A convicted felon charged last month with illegally possessing a handgun is now facing even more serious charges because he tried to flush a second handgun that cops didn’t know about down a police station toilet, according to prosecutors.
Police arrested Tavarus Walker, 24, on November 14 after they allegedly found a gun near his seat during a traffic stop in Chicago Lawn. Officers took Walker to the 8th District police station and put him into a holding cell.
Unbeknownst to officers, Walker had another gun in his waistband, according to the allegations. Surveillance video from the holding cell shows Walker removing the gun from his pants and putting it into the toilet, Assistant State’s Attorney John Gnilka said.
Walker allegedly tried to flush the gun down the toilet, but, as you might imagine, it didn’t go anywhere. So, Walker covered the submerged gun with toilet paper, Gnilka said.
A CPD employee found the gun in the toilet after Walker was transferred from the cell.
Prosecutors charged Walker with repeated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon later that day. He paid a $1,000 deposit to get out of jail.
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Walker with an even more serious crime: bringing a firearm into a penal institution, a Class X felony. Judge Charles Beach ordered him to pay another $1,000 deposit to get out of jail on the new charge.
Walker was convicted of being a felon in possession of a weapon and manufacture-delivery of cannabis in 2016. He was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for unlawful possession of a weapon in 2012, according to Gnilka.
Assistant Public Defender Suzin Farber said Walker has a wife and two kids.