Reputed Gang Members Arrested On Gun Charges

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (STMW) - A police stop for loud music turned into a chase and the arrest of two reputed gang members and the recovery of a gun.

The Waukegan Police Department's Gang Intelligence Unit stopped a vehicle Tuesday just before 3 p.m. at Washington Street and Edison Court, and when the vehicle stopped, the front seat passenger got out, dropped a gun, picked it up and began to run. The driver also ran, police said.

Police chased the 16-year-old with the gun, who threw the weapon and then jumped over a fence in the 100 block of Edison Court. When he went over the fence, he cut his hand on some barbed wire and he went into a home.

He told residents in the home in the 1000 block of North Jackson Street that he had just been stabbed and that was why his hand was bleeding. The residents immediately left the house and were met by officers outside.

They surrounded the house and the 16-year-old was taken into custody, police said. They also recovered the .38-caliber handgun and a bag of ammunition.

"I am very happy that we got another gun off of the streets," Police Chief Dan Greathouse said Friday.

The driver was identified as Bernard Hodges, 18, of the 2100 block of Ash Street, Waukegan, and he was taken into custody on Wednesday. He was on parole for a 2011 shooting, police said.

Hodges was charged with unlawful use of a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, defacing a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, fleeing and eluding police, and loud music, police said.

He is being held in Lake County Jail in lieu of $100,000. He is a known gang member.

The 16-year-old, also a known gang member, was charged in a juvenile petition with unlawful use of a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, defacing a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, no firearm owner's identification card and criminal trespass to residence, police said.

The juvenile told gang unit officers Hodges handed him the handgun and told him to run from the traffic stop. He was transferred to the juvenile detention center in Vernon Hills.

The defacing of the handgun charges resulted from having the serial number of the gun scraped off.

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