Two Lake County teens were arrested after police found them armed with a ghost gun and a machine gun, along with ski masks, during a traffic stop in Gurnee.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Dino Katris said officers with the Gurnee Police Department were on patrol around 9 p.m. on March 6 in the area of Route 45 and Rollins Road in Gurnee.
Officers saw a vehicle commit improper lane usage and conducted a traffic stop on it.
The driver was identified as Jerion M. Wise, 19, of Waukegan, and the front passenger was identified as David L. Melendez, 19, of Vernon Hills.
Katris said the two men were the only two occupants in the vehicle, which belonged to Wise’s grandma, who reported that Wise primarily drives the car.
Wise told officers that he had previously loaned the car to someone else a week earlier.
Officers saw smoke emitting from the window while approaching the car and could smell an “overwhelming smell” of burnt cannabis, Katris said.
Both men admitted they smoked cannabis two hours earlier. Police could see fresh cannabis shake scattered on the floorboard and center console.
A search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of a loaded, unserialized Polymer 80 9mm “ghost gun” which had an extended magazine inserted with 29 live rounds, Katris said.
The gun was tucked underneath the plastic housing directly underneath the steering wheel.
Katris said the top receiver of the gun was red and red paint transfer was seen on the outside of the plastic housing.
A second gun was found on the passenger side, directly in front of Melendez, Katris said. It was a loaded Glock 9mm that had an autosear “switch” equipped to it, rendering the gun fully automatic.
The Glock had an extended magazine inserted with 20 live rounds and one in the chamber.
Katris said the gun was located underneath the glovebox where a part of the molding had been removed and felt had been placed in the void which housed the gun.
Both guns were immediately accessible to the occupants and they are both under 21 with no Firearm Owner’s Identification cards or concealed carry licenses.
Police also found two black ski masks in the car, Katris said.
Katris said Melendez and Wise were suspects in a shooting in North Chicago in February 2025 where police were investigating shots fired at an apartment that was “peppered” with 15 bullet holes.
The investigation led to the apartment of another person where police found Melendez and Wise, along with others, hiding in a closet with a bag of several guns.
“Guns just happen to follow these two Defendants. Their poor choices and actions to possess guns make everyone in Lake County less safe,” Katris said.
“The guns they are using have high capacity magazines and are either untraceable or modified to be fully automatic designed for one purpose – destroy the opposition. Court conditions will not work and they lack the maturity and the common sense to handle such deadly weapons in our community,” the prosecutor argued.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted petitions to detain filed by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office following separate detention hearings.
Melendez is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday and Wise is scheduled to appear in court again on June 9 for a hearing on a motion.