Carpentersville gang member faces prison over gun

A 25-year-old gang member faces prison time after being apprehended by Carpentersville police Saturday, according to police and court records.

David C. Bridges, of the 700 block of Houston Avenue, Carpentersville, was charged with several felonies, including possession of a firearm by a gang member and with being an armed habitual criminal, according to police and court records. The latter charge, if convicted, carries a penalty of six to 30 years in prison with no possibility of probation.

Carpentersville Police Cmdr. Michael Kilbourne said an officer on patrol at about 11:35 p.m. Saturday in the 0-99 block of Middlesex Drive in the Fox View Apartment complex saw two men standing in an interior apartment hallway.

After spotting police the men ran, splitting up, and the officer caught up to Bridges who, before being caught, pulled an object from his waistband and put it in some bushes, Kilbourne said. Officers determined the object was a loaded 9-mm handgun, Kilbourne said.

“He was taken into custody, and the gun was collected,” Kilbourne said.

The other man got away.

Kilbourne did not immediately have information about Bridges’ previous felony convictions; a search of court records in Kane and McHenry counties did not reveal any felony cases, only a March 2011 misdemeanor domestic battery arrest in which the charges were later dropped.

Bail information and Bridges’ next court date were not immediately available.

Bridges also faces charges of resisting arrest, possession of a firearm without a Firearm Owner’s Identification card, and two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, according to police and court records.