A Milwaukee man faces felony charges after firing an AR-15, seemingly accidentally, during a traffic check on the Magnificent Mile.
Chicago cops stopped Justin Griffin in the 500 block of North Michigan at 3:30 p.m. on March 19 because they didn’t see any license plates on his Infiniti sedan, according to a CPD arrest record.
As soon as the officers entered their squad car to talk with the 22-year-old, they heard a “muffled gunshot” and “visibly saw smoke scatter from below the passenger side of the vehicle on the concrete as if a live round had made contact with the ground,” the report stated.
The cops approached the car “cautiously” and soon noticed a loaded AR-15 weapon poking out from under a pair of sweatpants on the passenger seat, the report claimed. One shell casing was purportedly found at the location.
Griffin faces charges of careless discharge of a firearm and aggravated unauthorized use of a weapon. According to the CPD report, detectives wanted prosecutors to charge him with possession of a stolen pistol. However, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office denied the charge since the firearm was taken in 2018 and “could have made contact with multiple individuals” since then, according to the arrest report.
Judge William Fahy refused the state’s request to hold Griffin in custody pending trial. Instead, the judge ordered Griffin’s release under a nocturnal curfew.