CHICAGO – Prosecutors have charged a man with participating in a shootout on a busy Uptown street in September. Surveillance footage showed him firing a gun during the altercation. Jabri Sims, 26, was also shot during the confrontation.
Police responded to a shot fired in the 4900 block of North Kenmore on September 23 around 12:55 p.m. About 15 minutes later, Sims walked into Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center to be treated for a gunshot wound, officials said.
Based on information received by police at the hospital, CPD announced at the time that he had been shot in Streeterville, coincidentally at the same intersection where Jussie Smollett claimed he was attacked.
Detectives reportedly found a video of Sims firing a gun and two officers who knew Sims recognized him from the footage. Investigators later found a video clip of Sims holding a firearm while wearing clothing similar to what the shooter was wearing, prosecutors alleged.
Sims is charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon with a prior conviction.
Judge Ankur Srivastava has detained Sims pending trial. The judge’s detention order states that Sims has three convictions, including one for gun possession, and that he poses a risk to public safety because he was “involved in a shootout with a rifle in the middle of the afternoon.”
Sims’ previous firearms conviction stemmed from a CPD and federal law enforcement raid on an Uptown home in 2017. At the time, prosecutors alleged he was in possession of 90 grams of suspected heroin worth $13,500, $600 worth of pot and a defaced 6-shot revolver. He eventually pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen firearm and a narcotics charge in exchange for a three-year prison sentence, according to court records.
