A Chicago man is facing felony gun charges after he allegedly hijacked an occupied CTA bus as it travelled its route through Englewood on Wednesday evening.
Maurice Lowry, 28, boarded the eastbound #67 bus around 11 p.m. and asked the driver to take him to a specific location, according to the allegations.
When the driver told Lowry that the bus didn’t go to his desired destination, he pulled out a gun and ordered two passengers to get off near 69th Street and Western Avenue, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Robinson and CPD records.
“Today,” Lowry allegedly told the driver at gunpoint, “you are going there.”
The driver began heading toward Lowry’s desired address until he ordered her to stop so he could go into a gas station, Robinson said. Surveillance video from the business, which is located near the 6900 block of South Halsted, shows Lowry hiding a gun on the shelves of an attached convenience store, according to Robinson.
Police responded to several calls from people at the gas station and the passengers that Lowry ordered to get off the bus, Robinson said. The cops found Lowry in the area and detained him. They also located the gun he allegedly hid in the convenience store, a loaded 45-caliber Glock with a laser sight attached.
Prosecutors charged Lowry with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and Robinson said authorities expect to file additional charges in the case.
Private defense attorney Michael Levinson said Lowry has an 8-year-old son, has a moving company, and may have been under the influence of drugs.
Judge Charles Beach said it “kinda makes sense” that there might be drug intoxication, saying Lowry was “allegedly treating a CTA bus as an Uber of sorts.”
Beach set bail at $40,000, meaning Lowry must post a $4,000 deposit to get out of jail.