Onetime crime victim is now a defendant in Chester
CHESTER » A city man who was the victim of a shooting back in April is now a defendant in an unrelated arrest on firearms offenses, according to the city’s chief of police.
Jabree Haneef Mills, 21, of the 1400 block of Honan Street, has been incarcerated at the county prison since his July 2 arrest in the city’s Highland Gardens section, according to Chief James Nolan IV and court documents.
Charged with firearms not to be carried without a license and possession of a firearm with manufacturer number altered, Mills is being held in lieu of posting bail, which was set at 10 percent of $100,000.
Nolan said Mills was a victim of a shooting that occurred in the 1100 block of Culhane Street in Highland Gardens on April 29. He described Mills’ injury as minor.
It was shortly after 6 p.m. on July 2 that city Police Sgt. Matthew Goldschmidt received information that a man in the 1400 block of Honan Street was in possession of an illegal black and silver handgun. Within six minutes of that report, city Police Officer William Carey was driving east in the nearby 2600 block of Price Street when he saw a man fitting that description looking at his direction. The man then fled south towards the 2600 block of Swarts Street, according to the probable cause affidavit authored by Goldschmidt.
Goldschmidt subsequently conducted a pedestrian stop of that individual in the 2600 block of Swarts Street as he was exiting a field. The man was frisked for weapons and asked for identification, which he could not produce. City Officer William Murphy and his K-9 partner, Chase, responded to the scene to conduct an article search. A black and silver handgun was recovered during the search.
At police headquarters, the individual was identified as Mills, according to the affidavit.
Mills, after he was read his Miranda rights, offered statements to police including “admitting that he possessed the firearm seized by police during this incident,” the affidavit states.
After speaking with Mills, Goldschmidt attempted to run the recovered firearm through the National Crime Information Center.
“While checking the firearm for the serial number, I noticed that the serial number was obliterated, making the numbers illegible,” the affidavit states.
Investigators also determined that Mills did not possess a valid permit to carry a firearm.
According to Nolan, the arrest stemmed from a crackdown following the recent uptick in shooting incidents in the city, particularly the Highland Gardens and Ruth L. Bennett housing development.
“So far, so good,” Nolan said of the initiative. “We are making arrests. We are targeting areas where violent crimes are committed and we are targeting the people who participate in violent behavior.”
Mills’ criminal history includes arrests for receiving stolen property, falsely incriminating another, disorderly conduct, aggravated assault, robbery, terroristic threats, simple assault, harassment, recklessly endangering another person, according to online court records.
It was not immediately known if Mills had retained an attorney on the latest offenses. A preliminary hear- ing is listed for Aug. 1 before Magisterial District Judge Spencer B. Seaton Jr.