$225,000 bond as new details emerge in Megabus shooting
A Chicago man accused of firing a weapon while riding on Megabus bound from Chicago to Minneapolis was ordered held on $225,000 bail Thursday in a court hearing that revealed new details of what authorities say occurred.
Jacques Anderson, 27, was charged with armed violence, possession of a controlled substance, escape and battery to a police officer after the shooting, which took place about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday while the bus was westbound on I-90 near Des Plaines.
Police recovered a .40-caliber firearm from Anderson along with 47 grams of cocaine in small packets, 50 Xanax pills and 26 Ecstasy pills, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Maureen McGee.
At Anderson's bond hearing Thursday before Cook County Judge Joseph Cataldo in Rolling Meadows, prosecutors said that after being placed in a squad car by Illinois State Police, Anderson kicked out a window and ran about 10 feet before an officer recaptured him.
McGee said the drama began when Anderson entered the restroom, where he's accused of shooting at the wall above the toilet, toward the other passengers. After leaving the restroom, Anderson approached the driver and "became belligerent," McGee said. A backup driver tried to intervene, she said.
A passenger noticed the gun and wrestled Anderson to the floor with help from other passengers. That was how police found him: on the floor and surrounded by other passengers after the bus pulled over at the Des Plaines oasis.
Anderson's background includes multiple felony convictions, including a 2006 conviction for manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance for which he received a five-year sentence, McGee said.
He was sentenced to two years of probation and 80 days in jail for 2005 convictions for possession of a controlled substance and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. In 2011, he was sentenced to two years in a Minnesota prison for selling drugs and received one year of probation in Minnesota in 2013 for DUI.
Anderson also faces charges of criminal damage to government property, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, reckless discharge of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance.
If convicted of the most serious charges, Anderson faces up to 30 years in prison. He next appears in court on June 4.