URBANA, Ill. (WAND) — The University of Illinois Police recovered three illegally-possessed guns in two separate cases this week.
Three people were arrested for weapons offenses.
Despite both incidents involving officers interacting with armed people, no one was injured in either incident.
Oct. 10 incident
University Police officers encountered Mehdi Amrani, 29, of Urbana, around 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday night in the 100 block of East Green Street in Champaign. Officers knew Amrani was wanted for questioning related to three burglary to motor vehicle cases in the campus area.
Officers attempted to detain Amrani but he ran into a parking garage. As officers struggled to place him in handcuffs, Amrani told them he had a firearm in the satchel he was carrying.
Police searched the satchel after detaining Amrani and found a loaded handgun as well as brass knuckles. Amrani has prior felony convictions and no Firearm Owner’s Identification, which makes his possession of a handgun illegal. The gun was seized as evidence.
Amrani was arrested for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and resisting a police officer, and for three separate burglary to a motor vehicle incidents that occurred over the last ten months. He was taken to the Champaign County Jail, where he remained as of Wednesday afternoon.
Oct. 8 incident
Two illegally-possessed, loaded guns were recovered, and multiple people were arrested Sunday after police were initially called to a motor vehicle burglary in progress at 1:23 a.m. Sunday in an alleyway in the 200 block of East Green Street, Champaign.
As they were detaining a person who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, an officer observed a firearm in the backseat of the car. After the suspect was safely detained, police found a second handgun under a seat.
A University of Illinois Police telecommunicator who was reviewing security camera footage informed officers that two additional suspects who may have been involved were walking away from the area. Officers stopped them as well.
Through investigation, police determined that the guns allegedly belonged to Sidney C. Williams, 40, of Rantoul, Illinois, and Dontarion M. Jordan, 30, of Urbana. Jordan was the person in the driver’s seat of the vehicle when police arrived on scene, and Williams was one of the two stopped a short distance away. Jordan was arrested for unlawful use of a weapon, and Williams was arrested for unlawful use or possession of a weapon by a felon.
Both guns were seized as evidence.
All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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