Passenger accused of pulling gun on Red Line quickly arrested after security officers contact police
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A passenger pulling out a gun on a CTA Red Line train was caught and charged quickly thanks to added security on the trains.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported Monday, we have learned the man was a convicted felon on parole.
The arrest over the weekend was preceded by a call for police response from a private, unarmed Monterey Security guard – the company that is currently contracted with the Chicago Transit Authority to help tackle the crime spike on its property.
The call for help from that guard was related to a man smoking on a train car on the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line.
The arrest happened just after 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Authorities said a security officer asked the man – Marvin Floyd, 31 – to stop smoking on the train.
At that point, Floyd pulled a gun from his waist band, according to a proffer from the Cook County State's Attorney's office.
The security officer called police and gave them the train information, along with Floyd's description, the proffer said.
Near the Sox-35th Street stop, police found Floyd sleeping on the train, the proffer said. Police patted him down, and found a loaded green ghost gun with an extended magazine on his waistband and a round chambered, police said.
Ghost guns are typically made at home and do not have serial numbers, making them untraceable.
Floyd was taken to the Deering (9th) District police station, where he told an officer, "It's my gun," the arrest report said.
Floyd did not have a Firearm Owners Identification Card or a Concealed Carry license on file, according to his arrest report.
In this case, Floyd never should have had any kind of gun on him in the first place, as a felon on parole from another gun case.
CBS 2 has also learned this was not Floyd's first run in with police – or his first criminal incident on the CTA.
Just last June, he was charged with felony possession of a firearm, after being captured on CTA security cameras hiding an illegal gun under a traffic cone at the Grand Avenue Red Line station after pulling it out during a fight.
Floyd was on parole then, too, for another gun charge. He was sentenced to two years in prison for that violation, but was somehow out on parole when arrested with the ghost gun Sunday.
In this latest case, Floyd – of the West Chesterfield neighborhood – was charged with felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon and being an armed habitual criminal, and was also cited with municipal code violations of having weapons on the CTA and having an illegal high-capacity magazine and metal-piercing bullets.
A judge ordered Floyd held without bond Monday. The State's Attorney's office still hasn't responded to our requests related to why and what his history could mean moving forward in his case.
The CTA released this statement:
"The security of CTA customers and employees is our No. 1 priority. Over the last several months, and as part of the recently unveiled "Meeting the Moment" Action Plan, the CTA has increased its efforts to help further address both riders' and employees' concerns. Since March, we have more than doubled the number of unarmed guards out on the system each day, and just this weekend deployed the first dozen unarmed, two-person K-9 teams, with plans for up to 50 teams to be deployed by October.
"With regards to yesterday's arrest, the involved security personnel handled this matter professionally and as the CTA security guard program was intended, which is to observe, report and help direct law enforcement in their response. As a result of these efforts, police were able to apprehend this offender and potentially deter an act of crime from occurring on our system.
"The benefits and effectiveness of the unarmed guards and K-9 units in deterring crime and violence are myriad. Professional, well-trained security guards and K-9 teams create a greater sense of higher-level security by their mere presence. A potential criminal/wrongdoer is less likely to engage in improper behavior in the presence of a uniformed unarmed guard or K-9 unit.
"Importantly, the use of unarmed guards is not a replacement, but a supplement for law enforcement on CTA, which is provided by the Chicago Police Department.
"CTA is assisting CPD in their investigation of this matter, including the review and providing of any relevant security camera footage. You may wish to contact CPD for any additional details or images being released as part of their investigation."
