Joliet Felon With Gun Flees Shorewood PD On Black Road: Cops

SHOREWOOD, IL — A 27-year-old Joliet convicted felon is back in the Will County Jail facing seven new criminal charges after prosecutors say Makhi Jones tried speeding away from a Shorewood squad car along Black Road last Thursday.

At the time of his arrest, Jones refused to show his hands to Shorewood officer James Welsh, and a gun was later recovered from inside Jones' sports utility vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Jones was booked into the Will County Jail around 9:30 a.m. last Thursday. A resident of Joliet's 1400 block of Devonshire Drive, bail for Jones has been set at $75,000.

He remained in detention Monday night, jail logs show.

Will County prosecutors have charged Jones with the following seven crimes:

• Obstructing a peace officer.
• Two counts of aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer.
• Two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
• Two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

According to his criminal complaint, Jones was previously convicted of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon in 2012, in Will County. On June 17, court records show, Jones "knowingly possessed ... (a) Rock Island Armory 1911 model 10 mm pistol, and said violation is a second or subsequent felony violation."

The felony fleeing charge states that Jones, "drove a motor vehicle, a Dodge Durango, upon Black Road, in Shorewood ... Will County, Illinois, and having been given a visual or audible signal, namely overhead lights and/or audible siren, by a peace officer in a police uniform ... and (he) willfully failed or refused to obey such direction, and such flight or attempt to elude was at a rate of speed of at least 21 miles per hour over the legal speed limit."