Skokie Teen Tosses Gun At Old Orchard Mall While Fleeing, Police Say

SKOKIE, IL — A call about an empty, running car that smelled like cannabis at Old Orchard Mall Tuesday led officers to an 18-year-old Skokie resident who was the subject of a "critical reach bulletin" from Evanston police, according to prosecutors.

Skokie police showed up at the mall and recognized the car as belonging to Jacques Irby, who now faces two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and has been ordered held at Cook County Jail unless he can come up the $5,000 cash portion of his bond.

Officers staked out the car and waited for Irby to get into the driver's seat. When he did, they tried to conduct a traffic stop, but the teen took off running into the mall past the Crate and Barrel store, according to prosecutors.

"Officers located [Irby] hiding in a bathroom located inside a Starbucks at the mall," Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Kate Fritzmann said Wednesday at his initial court appearance in Skokie.

A witness told police they saw Irby take a handgun out of his waistband and toss it into some woodchips as he was fleeing, Fritzmann said, noting the witness said they stayed with the gun until officers arrived. Police reported they found a .40 caliber Glock with an extended magazine.

Irby is also charged in connection with an April 29 incident in the 1800 block of Madison Street in Evanston, Fritzmann said. In that case, officers looking to arrest Irby on a separate, juvenile case, reported that he took off running while clutching his waistband.

Officers later found him and took him into custody. When they canvassed the area where he ran they found a loaded 9mm "ghost gun" in the front yard of a home in the 1700 block of Madison Street, where the resident told police that he did not own a gun, according to the prosecutor.

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Earlier this month, a state crime lab confirmed Irby's thumbprint was found on that gun, leading to the alert from Evanston police to local agencies, Fritzmann said.

The prosecutor noted that Irby was last year sentenced to 8 months in juvenile detention after being found delinquent for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon — the same offense of which he now faces two counts, each carrying a potential sentence of one to three years in state prison.

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Cook County Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese set the cash portion of Irby's bond at $2,500 for each of the separate felony cases. The Evanston case also includes misdemeanor charges of unlawful use of a weapon for possession of an unlicensed gun and ammunition without a Firearm Owners Identification, or FOID, card.

"While I recognize that is a significant bond out of the family's reach at this point," Calabrese said, "I'm afraid that's where we find ourselves given the danger to the community potentially presented by the defendant."