CHICAGO — Two men face felony charges after a Chicago police helicopter unit trailed a stolen car across the city, eventually leading to their arrests and the recovery of three handguns in Lakeview, prosecutors said Friday.
The 2015 Jeep was stolen from in front of a Bucktown woman’s home on April 3, and police spotted it traveling along the Dan Ryan Expressway near 91st Street on Thursday night, officials said. A CPD helicopter tracked the vehicle from the air as it headed through downtown, up Lake Shore Drive, and exited at Belmont Avenue just before midnight.
As ground units moved in, two men jumped from the vehicle while it was still moving in an alley behind the 700 block of West Grace. Chicago police arrested Jakeem McCray, 27, and Daniel Williams, 32, nearby.
Inside the Jeep, cops found a loaded handgun and a backpack containing two more pistols, extended magazines, and ammunition on the front passenger floorboard, prosecutor Alexander Konetzki said during a bail hearing for the two men.
Williams drove the Jeep and McCray was the front passenger, he said.
McCray, who is on parole for a felony gun conviction, is charged with possessing a stolen firearm, three counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and possessing a controlled substance. Judge Susana Ortiz ordered him to pay a $10,000 bail deposit to go home on electronic monitoring.
Ortiz said McCray would be released on an ankle monitor upon posting a $7,500 bail deposit. He is charged with possessing a stolen motor vehicle.