Two men will be held in DuPage County jail on unrelated gun charges from arrests made by the Naperville Police Department, one involving a machine gun and the other a discharged weapon.
In the first case, a police officer pulled over a car after it came out of a Wendy’s parking lot in close proximity to the officer’s vehicle about 8:10 a.m. Thursday, a news release from the police department and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said.
While speaking to the driver about his vehicle’s expired license plate, the officer “heard what sounded like the slide of a handgun rack from inside the vehicle,” prompting a request for backup officers to assist, the report said.
The officer then spoke to Tony Thompson, 19, of the 400 block of Hillside Road, Joliet, seated in the the passenger seat and asked him to exit when additional officers arrived. While searching the vehicle, officers found a Glock 17 9-mm firearm with a switch capable of making it fully automatic beneath Thompson’s seat, the report said.
Thompson was charged with one count of possession of a machine gun, a class X felony; one count of possession of a firearm-no FOID, a class 3 felony; and two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a class 4 felony.
The second incident occurred about 8:05 p.m. Thursday when officers driving behind Naperville resident Trensae Ware, 24, of the 1500 block of West Jefferson Avenue, initially observed him not wearing a seat belt and then heard what sounded like a gunshot after which they saw “the vehicle lightly swerve and shake,” the report said.
After pulling the car over, the officers found a cannabis shake on the gearshift and an open bottle of tequila in the pocket behind the passenger’s seat, officials said.
When the four occupants exited, a spent casing was found on the driver’s seat, a loaded .45-caliber firearm below the front passenger seat and a bullet hole near the spot where the driver’s left foot would have been while seated, the report said.
According to authorities, the bullets contained in the gun matched the spent shell casing retrieved from the driver’s seat and a shot bullet recovered from where it lodged in the car.
All four occupants were tested for gunshot residue, but it was only found on Ware’s hands, the report said. A 9-mm handgun was found in the vehicle’s rear passenger compartment but did not match the discharged shell casing.
Ware has been charged with one count each of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, a class 3 felony, and reckless discharge of a firearm, a class 4 felony.
State’s Attorney Robert Berlin commended the Naperville police in a statement on the two arrests.
“Their commitment to public safety is second to none,” he said. “Once again, their efforts have led to the removal of dangerous weapons from those who are not legally allowed to possess them.”
Both suspects are scheduled for arraignment hearings on July 1.