Joliet police catch teen with ‘modified’ automatic handgun

A 17-year-old was caught with a handgun after a Thursday morning traffic stop, police said.

About 5:30 a.m., Joliet officers stopped a Honda Accord near North William Street and Ingalls Avenue for a suspended registration violation, according to a news release from the Joliet Police Department.

Two males left the passenger side of the vehicle, despite police telling them to remain inside.

One male held his waistband as he ran from the vehicle.

As officers ran after him, they saw him throw what appeared to be a handgun over a fence into the backyard of a nearby house, and the male stopped running.

Officers took him into custody without further incident and learned the male was 17 years old. Officers did not find the second male who left the vehicle and ran from the traffic stop.

After searching the yard, officers recovered a loaded pistol “that appeared to be modified with a switch device converting the weapon to fully automatic firing,” according to the release.

Officers also searched the Honda and recovered a second loaded pistol where the other male had sat, police said, and this gun also “appeared to be modified with an automatic fire switch.”

The teen was arrested, processed and transported to the River Valley Justice Center on a charge of unlawful use of a weapon – machine gun and obstructing a peace officer, police said.

The Honda’s driver, Brennan Torres-Havemann, 25, of Romeoville was cited for driving while license suspended and operating a motor vehicle when registration suspended, police said, and the vehicle was towed from the scene.