A man has been sentenced to probation for being armed with a loaded gun in a McDonald’s in Zion where he got into a physical struggle with police officers over the gun while saying, “I got my finger on the trigger.”
The Zion Police Department responded around 4:45 p.m. on March 26 to the McDonald’s, 2028 Sheridan Road in Zion, for a report of a person with a gun.
The 911 caller reported that an individual threatened to kill himself and was in possession of a gun, according to Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Kailey Hopkins.
Officers arrived and saw Christian P. Lawn, 19, of Buffalo Grove, in a booth with a woman.
Lawn began to leave the McDonald’s when officers arrived and they told him to stop.
Hopkins said Lawn reached into his pocket and pulled out a black handgun. Officers grabbed his arms in an attempt to control his movements.
“Imma blow it, imma blow it, I got my finger on the trigger,” Lawn said repeatedly, according to Hopkins.
Lawn continued to struggle and officers took him to the ground.
An officer was able to get hold of his arm and ejected a live round from the chamber of the gun as Lawn continued holding the weapon, Hopkins said.
Officers tased Lawn three times in order to get him to drop the gun and take him into custody.
Lawn does not have a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification card or concealed carry license.
“The defendant brought a loaded weapon into McDonald’s and then struggled with the officer to keep the fully loaded firearm in his hands. The officers needed to deploy the taser to get the defendant to comply and were finally successful in their efforts,” Hopkins said.
“The defendant was willing to put others in harm’s way and possessed a firearm he was not allowed to possess. Not only was he not supposed to possess the firearm, but he brought the loaded handgun to a public restaurant at a time in the day where others would be frequenting McDonalds,” Hopkins added.
Lawn was charged with three counts of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, a Class 4 felony.
In addition to Lawn not being legally licensed to possess guns, he was on pre-trial release for unlawfully possessing ammunition in Buffalo Grove and one of his conditions of pre-trial release was not to possess weapons.
Lawn was transported to Lake Behavioral Hospital in Waukegan and an arrest warrant was issued for him on March 28. He was taken into custody on April 3.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Lawn and a petition to revoke his pre-trial release following his arrest.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim called the incident “troubling” and granted both petitions following a detention hearing.
Court records show Lawn, who has been held in the Lake County Jail, entered into a negotiated plea deal with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office last month.
He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated unlawful possession of a firearm, a Class 4 felony.
Lawn was sentenced to 180 days in jail, which was considered served due to his time spent in custody awaiting trial.
He was also sentenced to 24 months of probation, ordered not to possess firearms, not to consume alcohol or drugs and to be subject to a curfew, among other conditions.
Lawn was accepted into the first-time weapon offender program as part of the plea and his conviction will not be entered on his record as long as he completes the program successfully.