Woman Gave Fanny Pack With Gun To Child After Man Detained: Cops

ORLAND PARK, IL — A south suburban man and woman were arrested last week after police said they found two guns inside their vehicle and fanny pack.

According to officials, Orland Park tactical officers were investigating a "suspicious, unoccupied" car in a parking lot at 304 Orland Square Drive on Friday, Feb. 11. Shortly after 3:15 p.m., officers said they noticed a handgun laying on the driver's side floorboard.

Officers stepped aside and waited for the car's occupants to return and approached the vehicle after three people got inside. When officers approached the car and asked the passenger and driver to exit, they ignored police. An officer told Patch he saw the driver take off a fanny pack he was wearing and hand it to the woman in the passenger seat.

The woman, later identified as 33-year-old Kelly Turner, had to be physically removed from the car while still holding the fanny pack. The man, identified as 32-year-old Nickolas Burch, also would not leave the car and officers had to break the driver's window to open the door, according to a press release.

Burch eventually got out of the car and police said they secured the loaded handgun from the floor. Then, Turner handed the fanny pack to a child in the backseat and told the young girl to run into the nearby mall. Officers grabbed the fanny back and found another loaded handgun inside with an extra magazine.

"Also found in the fanny pack was Burch’s wallet that contained a business card for his Federal Probation Officer who was subsequently contacted and informed of the charges," a release from an Orland Park police spokesman stated.

At the time of the arrest, Burch was on electronic monitoring after being convicted of armed robbery and attempted murder. Burch was charged with two counts of being an Armed Habitual Criminal, one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and one misdemeanor for child endangerment.

Both Burch and Turner were given $5,000 bonds and posted the required $500 each to be released pending trial.

On Tuesday, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau critiqued a Cook County judge's decision to award a low bail to Burch and Turner.

"85% of the criminals we arrest in Orland Park are previous felons and/or are out on bail, and we can thank Cook County for nearly every single one of them come. The arrest we made of Nickolas Burch, who one of our officers called one of the 'baddest guys' he ever arrested, was no different," Pekau wrote in an email statement from his campaign.