AK-47, Handguns Dropped In Neighbor's Yard In Botched Gun Heist: Cops

SKOKIE, IL — Two members of a burglary crew are in custody and another remains at large in connection with a botched gun heist Sunday at an unincorporated Maine Township home, authorities said.

Cook County sheriff's police were dispatched around 1:30 p.m. to a report of a break-in in the 9400 block of North Dee Road, authorities said.

Jamarius Walker, 19, of the 9900 block of Holly Lane, was arrested shortly after the burglary and charged with residential burglary, according to police and prosecutors.

Security footage reportedly showed three burglars wearing blue ski masks and black jackets entered through a front window and stole five guns — two handguns and AK-47, AR-15 and AR-22 rifles.

The fleeing trio jumped into the yard of another home, where they were confronted a neighbor, according to Assistant State's Attorney Tristian Minx.

"The witness confronted the three males, and they dropped a tan backpack that contained two handguns, ammunition and an AK-47 style rifle in the street and then fled," Minx said Tuesday at Walker's initial court appearance in Skokie.

Police have yet to find the other two rifles have not been recovered, the prosecutor said.

Officers from the Des Plaines Police Department and the Cook County sheriff's office arrested Walker a short time after the burglary in the 9600 block of Dee Road.

He was found with a blue ski mask and matched the description of the burglars from the security video, according to police and prosecutors.

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Although Minx told the judge Tuesday afternoon that Walker was the only person arrested in connection with the firearm burglary, a spokesperson for the Cook County sheriff's office said a 15-year-old boy was taken into custody the night of the burglary and charged in juvenile court.

Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call sheriff's police detectives, whose investigation into the heist is ongoing.

Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese ordered Walker jailed unless he can come up with the $5,000 cash portion of his bond.

"I'm taking into consideration the unique nature of this particular burglary, in which the only items that appear to be taken were automatic weapons and pistols," Calabrese said, "which would theoretically find their way back onto the street to potentially cause carnage on the city streets."

Walker, who had been planning to start a job as an Amazon delivery driver "pretty soon," according to his court-appointed attorney, is due back in court April 4 for a bond review hearing if he is unable to post the cash first.