Convicted Felon Sentenced to Seven and a Half Years in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing Loaded Gun on South Side of Chicago

 CHICAGO — A convicted felon has been sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison for illegally possessing a loaded semiautomatic handgun in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood of Chicago.

CHAWAN LOWE, 31, of Chicago, illegally possessed the firearm in the 7800 block of South Sangamon Street on the evening of May 22, 2019.  Lowe was observed on surveillance video discarding the gun in a dumpster in an alley moments after Chicago Police responded to a call of gunfire in the area.  Lowe was not legally allowed to possess a firearm after previously being convicted of multiple narcotics offenses.

A federal jury in March convicted Lowe on one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon.  U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo imposed the sentence Sept. 2, 2020, in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Kristen deTineo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office provided valuable assistance and participated in the prosecution.  The case was tried by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Daniel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Erika Gilliam-Booker, who also serves as an Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney.

“The defendant unlawfully possessed a firearm in a city where gun violence has made headlines for years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Daniel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Erika Gilliam-Booker argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.  “This offense also conveys the defendant’s disregard for the law.”

Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Guardian and Project Safe Neighborhoods.  In the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Lausch and law enforcement partners have deployed the Guardian and PSN programs to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.