What started as a routine loud party call on a quiet Bolingbrook cul-de-sac Saturday night ended with six arrests, two loaded handguns, marijuana, and clear signs of underage drinking, according to police. Officers broke up the gathering, detained an 18-year-old and five juveniles, and spent the rest of the night processing a scene that hit on some very familiar suburban worries: teens, alcohol, and guns in the same place.
Police were called around 9:41 p.m. to the 700 block of Hawthorne Court after multiple noise complaints. While clearing the crowd, officers encountered 18-year-old Muhammad T. Nadeem of Skokie and five juveniles, according to FOX 32 Chicago. The outlet reports that investigators recovered two loaded firearms and marijuana at the house and arrested Nadeem and the juveniles. Initial details were also shared in an update on the Village of Bolingbrook’s Facebook page.
A brief follow-up investigation turned the house-party bust into a felony gun case. Nadeem now faces multiple weapons counts, including two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a concealed firearm, according to The Herald-News. The paper also notes that during the same shift, officers responded to Brookside Court, where they arrested 18-year-old Angelo Albert of Chicago after allegedly finding a loaded firearm. He was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Both incidents were handled by patrol officers and problem-oriented policing units, the outlet reports.
What the charges mean under Illinois law
Under Illinois law, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon is a felony offense, with penalties that ramp up when certain aggravating factors are present, such as prior convictions or where the weapon is allegedly carried, according to the Illinois statute. The code also separates out unlawful use of a weapon as a different crime with its own potential penalties, leaving it to prosecutors to sort through the facts and decide which specific charges to pursue…