Police: Men Leave Loaded Handgun in Their Dust

A loaded handgun caused several men to abandon a van and run after they were stopped on Dec. 16 for blowing a red light, according to police.

said they stopped and ordered four men out of a red Chevy Astro near the intersection of Kedzie Avenue and Viking Drive after the driver admitted to having smoked marijuana.

Officers managed to get one man out of the car before it sped off about 100 feet and parked. Others in the van ran.

Searching the car before towing, officers found a chrome handgun with seven bullets in the clip and one in the chamber under a passenger seat.

At a home in the 3200 block of Chestnut Drive, where the lone arrested man lives, police found two passengers of the van but not the driver.

Randy Doby, 17, of the 13900 block of Wabash Avenue in Riverdale, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon after claiming ownership of the gun, police said.

Police said Doby told officers he began carrying the gun for protection after a gang tried recruiting him and he refused. He said he has been receiving anonymous death threats through the phone ever since.

Early the next morning, police reported seeing the driver of the car, Akeem Cavin, 19, in the intersection of Flossmoor Road Crawford Avenue, “stumbling in and out of traffic as if he was going to pass out.” He wasn’t wearing shoes or a jacket and told police he was unaware of Doby’s gun, but ran because he was scared.

Cavin, of the 12800 block of Carpenter Street in Calumet Park, was charged with disobeying a traffic control signal, fleeing and eluding a peace officer, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

No charges were filed against the other two passengers.