Chicago — New details emerged Thursday as a second man accused of being involved in a Chicago police SWAT incident at a Near North Side apartment building was held without bail on gun and stolen motor vehicle charges. Prosecutors say he and the previously charged man, Trevon Garland, were arrested together in an unrelated incident in October.
And CWB Chicago has learned Garland was found not guilty of felony gun charges during a bench trial less than a week ago.
Here’s the latest:
On Thursday, prosecutors accused Anthony Ramsey, 18, of driving the stolen Infiniti that led Illinois State Police troopers on a chase from the South Side, through Old Town, and to the apartment building at 1140 North Wells around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Yesterday, prosecutors accused Garland of leaving two loaded AK-47s in the Infiniti’s back seat as he dashed into the apartment complex with Ramsey and two other ski mask-wearing men. Officials said that the group took an elevator to the 12th floor, where apartments are rented short-term, like hotel rooms.
Moments after the four men entered unit #1214, Ramsey and an unidentified man stepped out of the apartment and dumped items down a trash chute, prosecutor Sarah Dale-Schmidt said. Those items, recovered by police from the bottom of the chute a few minutes later, were four loaded handguns, 20 rounds of ammunition, and the stolen car’s key fob, according to Dale-Schmidt.
Chicago police officers summoned the department’s SWAT team to clear the building, and Ramsey was arrested as he walked away from the complex with two keys to the 12th-floor apartment in his pocket, Dale-Schmidt said.
Ramsey is on bail for a felony case in Stephenson County, where he is accused of illegally possessing a machine gun, resisting police, and possessing a stolen motor vehicle, Dale-Schmidt said.
Separately, he and Garland were arrested together in Chicago on October 18 after police tracked a stolen car, found it abandoned with the engine running, and followed footprints to an abandoned home where the two men were allegedly hiding. They were only charged with criminal trespass to land in that case.
Judge Mary Marubio, noting “the sheer firepower at stake here” and allegations that Ramsey gave police the fake name of “Treavon Reed” when they arrested him, granted the state’s no-bail petition. He is charged with four counts of felony unlawful use of a weapon, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, obstructing identification, and driving on a suspended license.
Last Friday, just four days before Garland allegedly abandoned two loaded AK-47 rifles in the stolen Infiniti, he was found not guilty of felony gun charges during a bench trial by Judge Neera Walsh in Chicago, according to court records.
According to a Chicago police report, cops arrested Garland last July during a traffic stop in the 7900 block of South Ashland. The officers said they saw “white smoke” and “an odor consistent with burnt cannabis” as they approached the car. Cops said they saw Garland, seated in the back seat, “extending his legs straight in front of him… possibly concealing contraband.”
Officers said they found a loaded handgun with an extended magazine from under the seat. The police said the gun could only be accessed from the back seat, not from the front.
Garland “quickly related that it was his,” but clarified that he meant the weed was his, the police report said.
As of Thursday afternoon, Garland remained in the Cook County jail. He must post a $3,000 deposit toward his bail to go home on electronic monitoring.