COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Police found a rifle, handgun and several bullets stashed in a baby stroller in Back of the Yards, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Officers were conducting surveillance in the 4500 block of South Hermitage Avenue about 2 a.m. Monday after they'd seen someone on police-security cameras fire a rifle in the area, according to an arrest report.
Yarisma Martinez, 18, and another woman entered a home on that block carrying a backpack and plastic bag, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said during a bond hearing Tuesday.
Within minutes, the women walked back outside pushing a red stroller, court records show.
When police stopped the women and asked if they had guns, officers said, Martinez nodded toward the stroller.
There officers found a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun with 15 bullets stuffed inside a diaper bag, Scaduto said. The woman also had a magazine with 15 additional bullets and a box of ammunition for the gun that contained 30 bullets. Police also recovered inside the stroller a rifle with two bullets and one spent round, prosecutors said.
A child was not present at the time. Court records list Martinez as a mother of one.
Martinez, who lives on the block, is charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. She does not have a valid Firearm Owner Identification card, records show.
"Here is an 18-year-old with two guns on the streets of our city," Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil said Tuesday before setting bail at $20,000. Should Martinez post bond, the judge ordered, Martinez must adhere to a 24-hour curfew.
According to Assistant Public Defender Megan Tomlinson, Martinez has spent the past two months employed as a line worker.
