Niles police on Thursday morning, Nov. 17, arrested a man who they said displayed a weapon outside Notre Dame College Prep on Dempster Street, and the suspect was charged later that day with aggravated use of a weapon by a felon and two other counts.
A police statement said witnesses observed Carlos Kamber, 51, of the 5700 block of West Giddings Street in Chicago, lift up his shirt and reveal a handgun in his waistband as he was crossing Dempster Street in front of the Niles high school at about 8:48 a.m.; police later found the gun, which was a semi-automatic, during their investigation of Kamber.
According to a police department report, police notified school officials immediately and the school was put on a soft lockdown. Niles Police Officer Kevin Regal said a soft lockdown is characterized by no one entering or leaving the school and students remaining in their classrooms with the door locked while instruction continues.
Regal said in a message to Pioneer Press that no parents, students, or school workers were nearby when Kamber revealed he had a gun.
Police said officers found Kamber at a bus stop in the 7600 block of Dempster Street, investigated, found the semi-automatic weapon and took Kamber into custody just after 9 a.m. Per the department statement, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charging Kamber with one charge of aggravated use of a weapon by a felon and two charges of aggravated assault.
Regal said someone is charged with assault when “he or she knowingly engages in conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.”
In this case, two people saw the handgun, translating to two counts of aggravated assault, Regal said.
“Because the suspect used a deadly weapon (without firing the weapon), the charges of assault were upgraded to aggravated assault as defined by statute,” he said.
An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt.