CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been sentenced to five years for having a loaded firearm in the middle of a “large group” incident in the Loop on July 4, 2021. Steven Glass, 24, received another five years for possessing another gun while he was on bail for the Loop incident, according to court records. The sentences will be served consecutively.
At least 60 people were arrested when hundreds of people, including many teens, converged on the Loop and Millenium Park on Independence Day 2021. Police said eight of those arrested were adults.
“A disturbingly high number of those arrests involved a teenager with a gun,” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd)Â told CBS2Â after the dust settled. “We had guns in backpacks. Guns in pockets. A large number of firearms present.”
“We are really lucky no one was murdered in the Loop,” said Hopkins.
Of everyone arrested that night, Glass faced the most serious charges. Prosecutors said an undercover Chicago police officer working the streets for a “mass civilian presence” saw Glass walking with a gun in a bag on the 100 block of North Wabash.
Uniformed officers stopped Glass nearby and found a loaded 9-millimeter “ghost gun” and an extended ammunition magazine in his bag. So-called “ghost guns” are untraceable and unregistered weapons people build using kits. Some of the weapons are then sold on the black market.
Glass, who has past convictions for burglary and aggravated battery, completed parole on a robbery charge just three months earlier. Prosecutors charged him with Class X armed habitual criminal, and he posted a $5,000 bail deposit to get out of jail.
Last October, Chicago cops responding to 911 calls of seven men standing with guns on a South Side street saw Glass and another man run away as officers arrived. They chased him, and a loaded 9-millimeter ghost gun fell out of his waist, prosecutors alleged.
They charged him with Class X armed habitual criminal again.
Court records show he struck a plea deal with prosecutors last month. They allowed him to plead guilty to two lesser charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm in exchange for consecutive five-year sentences from Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan.
Both armed habitual criminal counts and four other gun-related felonies were dropped in the deal.
If he behaves in prison, the state will cut his sentences in half. He’ll also receive credit for time spent in custody before pleading. His anticipated parole date is October 8, 2027.
