A boy headed to see Friday night's fireworks ended up checking out the inside of a police squad car when he was arrested for carrying a sawed-off shotgun into the Taste of Chicago.
Just 15 years old, police said the teen had the loaded sawed-off shotgun in his backpack. He was with a group of people who were showing and shouting gang slogans to another group, police said.
The boy took off running but was arrested on Jackson Drive.
The boy’s name was not being released due to his age. However, he will be charged with a felony offense, News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said.
The arrest was just one of several gun and knife-related arrests that happened Friday near Grant Park.
The incident with the shotgun happened less than a week after a northwest Indiana man was arrested for carrying a loaded handgun near a Grant Park security checkpoint, police said.
Shrome D. George, 25, of the 3400 block of S. Salem Ct. in Michigan City, Ind., was arrested after he was found to be carrying a fully loaded .9mm handgun as he attempted to enter the Taste through one of the security checkpoints last Saturday evening, police said.