Wanted 16-Year-Old Ditches 'Ghost Gun' During Evanston Chase: Police

EVANSTON, IL — Police said a Des Plaines boy tossed a bag containing a loaded "ghost gun" while being chased through downtown Evanston by officers on Saturday.

Around 11:45 a.m., officers on patrol near Church Street and Maple Avenue noticed the 16-year-old walking down Church Street, and knew that he had an active arrest warrant issued by the Cook County Sheriff's Office, according to an Evanston police spokesperson.

The teen took off running when officers tried to stop him, dropping a black shoulder bag and making it about two blocks before he was apprehended and arrested, police said.

When officers found and searched the boy's shoulder bag, they found a loaded, unserialized pistol inside that was likely assembled with a kit, according to police.

Such untraceable firearms are commonly called "ghost guns," and are constructed out of unfinished frames or receivers that do not require background checks to buy.

Police said the Des Plaines boy was referred to juvenile court to face a charge of unlawful use of a weapon.

The number of "ghost guns" recovered by authorities nearly tripled from 2020 to 2021, according to a report released last month that included data from Evanston and 30 other cities.

"Polymer80, the largest producer of ghost gun parts and kits, was the fifth-largest producer of crime guns in the cities surveyed in 2021 — a stunning finding that quantifies both the danger of untraceable ghost guns and their popularity among criminals," according to Everytown Research & Policy report.

The report found that Polymer80 was the most commonly recovered crime gun in Baltimore, Maryland; San Rafael, California and Syracuse, New York.

Among the 17 cities that had five years worth of data about recovered crime guns, the report found the number of Polymer80 crime guns rose from zero in 2017 to 757 in 2021.