Cook County Jail Locked Down After Gun Found In Trash
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cook County Jail was on lockdown Tuesday morning, after officials found a loaded gun in a trash can in a holding area overnight.
The sheriff's office said the gun, a .32-daliber Kel-Tec handgun small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, was found in a holding area between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., as an officer was cleaning the area.
Officials said no inmates are housed in that area of the jail. The holding area is where various police departments in Cook County drop off suspects who are due in court, and investigators believe police officers missed the gun while bringing a suspect to the jail. Officials said it's likely a suspect tossed it into the trash upon realizing he or she would be passing through metal detectors at the jail.
"It's my belief that this weapon came in on a new prisoner and whatever agency had arrested him missed it, and he knew he was about to go through thorough searches on our side and discarded it in the garbage," Cook County sheriff's spokeswoman Cara Smith said.
Smith says she doesn't know what agency may have missed it. Most of the jail's population is brought in from Chicago Police.
The jail was locked down after the gun was found as the sheriff's office investigates.
Investigators have determined the gun was not stolen, and were trying to find its owner.
