ATF / Chicago Police Department

In September 1995, Chicago Police Department officers responded to the homicide of a 19-year-old factory worker who was killed when a bullet fired from a passing car into a neighborhood crowd struck him in the head. In August 2003, Chicago Police Department officers conducted a traffic stop for an ordinance violation, and arrested the driver for unlawful possession of a firearm. Using NIBIN, Illinois State Police, Chicago Forensic Science Center, was able to match the firearm to the murder. ATF and the Chicago Police Department investigated the recovery of the firearm and determined that the firearm had been purchased by a “straw purchaser” one day prior to the murder. The purchaser had transferred the firearm to the shooter, and the shooter then sold the firearm shortly after the murder. In November 2007, the shooter, a felon and enforcer for the Black Gangster Disciples, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 50 years imprisonment.

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