Natalia Chi
CHICAGO — A Chicago man rammed a CTA bus, threatened the bus driver with a gun, fled police, spun donuts in a city park, and threw a gun into the park’s lake, prosecutors say .
A police station dive team recovered the weapon.
At Monday’s warrant hearing, Judge Kelly McCarthy held 31-year-old Leonard Lewis in lieu of $25,000 bail.
Prosecutors said Lewis stopped in front of a CTA bus on Block 5100 in South Ashland around 11:30 a.m. Someone got off the bus to take a photo of Lewis, but he rushed back to the bus after Lewis pointed a gun at him.
Prosecutors said Lewis drove away from the scene but turned back, got out of the car, and pointed his gun at the bus driver and the man who had tried to take a picture earlier.
Lewis started the car again. Then, again, he passed the scene as Chicago police were talking to the bus driver.
He scurried away from the patrol car that tried to pull him over. Prosecutors said CPD supervisors ordered police to stop chasing him after he ran four stop signs.
Prosecutors said another officer found Lewis entering Sherman Park and began driving a donut. Police stopped Lewis in the park.
Prosecutors said he got out of the car, pulled the gun from his jacket, yelled at police, and threw the gun into the lake.
The gun slid across the ice and fell through the opening into the water.
CPD Marines recovered the weapon, a loaded 9mm Ghost Gun, from the water, officials said.
Prosecutors say Lewis has only one misdemeanor criminal record.
He is currently charged with aggravated illegal use of a weapon, aggravated fugitive, and aggravated assault on a transportation employee.
Judge McCarthy said electronic surveillance is required when posting a 10% bail bond.
Lewis isn’t the first person to be accused of throwing a gun into a body of water when officers approached them.
Last May, a man allegedly threw a gun into the Chicago River after pointing it at a security guard at Millennium Park. A CPD diver retrieved the gun. He has been charged with a felony.
In October 2021, Juan Valle threw a loaded pistol into Lake Michigan after witnesses reported seeing a man with a gun near Montrose Beach Dog Park. However, the gun never quite reached the lake. Instead, it hit the ground, ejecting the ammunition depot. The gun and magazine fell into Lake Michigan, prosecutors said.
CPD Marines also recovered Valle’s firearms from the bottom of the lake.
He pleaded guilty to being a felon with a firearm last fall in exchange for a four-year sentence.
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