Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Bond Set for Suspected DomU Shooter

Officers recover loaded handgun after weekend traffic stop, link Chicago man to recent gunfire at Dominican University.

Update: A Cook County judge set Sellars bond today at $100,000 for the charge of aggravated discharge of a firearm near a school, a Class X felony, police said. Bond was also set at $50,000 for the charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and erasing serial numbers off the gun.  

A Cook County state's attorney will announce Thursday if the case will go to the grand jury or if a preliminary hearing will be scheduled.

Orginal Story: Police in River Forest say a traffic stop led to the arrest of a man suspected of firing gunshots near Dominican University. 

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Joshua Sellars, 19, was arrested Sunday after a traffic stop in the 7700 block of Division Street, where officers had beefed up their patrols after campus security reported gunfire in the early morning hours of Feb. 26, police said. Shortly after the gunshots were reported, investigators recovered shell casings on Thatcher Avenue and found a bullet inside an office at Dominican's Parmer Hall.

Earlier:

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sellars, of the 1000 block of North Lavergne Avenue in Chicago, had been a passenger in a vehicle pulled over around 1:45 a.m. Sunday. During the traffic stop, police found a loaded 9mm handgun in the car, which they said belonged to Sellars. According to a police news release, investigators "were later able to link the gun to the shooting at Dominican University."

Police have also linked Sellars to a previous report of gunfire near Dominican's campus in Sept. 2011. 

Sellars was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm near a school, a Class X felony, and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and defacing identification marks on a firearm, both felonies.

He was scheduled to appear in bond court Monday morning. 


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