COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Little Village man tried to hide a gun by throwing it on a roof Monday — only to have the gun fall to the ground, fire and hit a Chicago Police officer who'd been chasing him, prosecutors said.
Rafael Martir-Ubiles, 25, now faces charges of aggravated battery to a peace officer, resisting arrest and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
According to prosecutors, two officers on patrol in Little Village spotted Martir-Ubiles walking with two other men near 24th and Trumbull about 4:15 p.m. Monday.
Martir-Ubiles was holding his left side and had a noticeable bulge in his shirt, which officers believed to be a concealed gun, Assistant State's Attorney Matthew Howroyd said during a bond hearing Thursday.
Police pulled their marked SUV into an alley to block Martir-Ubiles' path and were about to interview the man when he took off running, still holding his side, prosecutors said.
The officers gave chase and saw Martir-Ubiles pull a .45 caliber handgun from his waistband and try to toss it on a nearby roof, Howroyd said.
That's when the gun came clattering to the ground, discharged and fired a bullet toward one of the officers, who'd begun to chase Martir-Ubiles, prosecutors said. The officer suffered a through-and-through gunshot wound to his right shoulder.
The injured officer stayed with the gun and radioed in his injury, prosecutors said, while his partner kept chasing Martir-Ubiles, who eventually scaled a fence and found himself blocked in an alley with a gate he could not open.
When the officer tried to arrest Martir-Ubiles, Howroyd said, he "became combative" so the officer used a Taser twice to subdue the man.
Police later recovered a .45 caliber handgun in an alley with eight live rounds, including one in the chamber, according to prosecutors. There was also one .45 caliber shell casing on the ground.
Martir-Ubiles, of the 2400 block of South St. Louis Avenue, does not have a valid FOID card or concealed-carry license, prosecutors said.
He has multiple tattoos that document a Latin Kings gang affiliation, according to police, and confessed to carrying the gun and tossing it on the roof while running from police.
The officer who was shot was treated and released from Stroger Hospital, prosecutors said. The officers who chased down Martir-Ubiles was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital for abrasions on his hands that resulted from scaling a fence.
Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas on Thursday ordered Martir-Ubiles held without bail.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
