Convicted criminals with guns flood DuPage County as Oak Brook sees 1st murder since 2011

OAK BROOK, Ill. (WLS) -- DuPage County is wrestling with a tough new gun problem that has law enforcement officials concerned.

State's Attorney Robert Berlin told the ABC7 I-Team that convicted criminals who aren't legally allowed to have guns are flooding DuPage County from other places. That's a four-fold increase in the past few years of felons with unlawful guns.

Berlin said half of all felonies in DuPage County are being committed by people who don't live in the county.

'We have seen handguns that have been modified to become fully automatic. We've seen quite a few of those. The biggest concern that we have is, we've seen an enormous increase in felons with guns. I think over a two year period we're up 195%," said Berlin.

And, Berlin said the firearm stats are even worse. Seventy percent of felons caught with guns are carrying them into DuPage County from other places. And, the number of felons-with-guns cases is surging. That number increased from 41 in 2019 to 121 last year, and the number has continued to climb.

"That's a disturbing trend that we're seeing. The good news is, is that the police are doing their job and they're arresting these people and we are prosecuting them," Berlin said.

What does he attribute that to?

"It's a complete lack of respect for the law. These are people, who because they're convicted felons, cannot possess a gun. And yet, they do. And, they're driving around," Berlin said.

Early Wednesday morning, 27-year-old Donameen Jones, recently convicted of being a felon in possession of a gun, was driving through Oak Brook, when somebody opened fire on the car he was in.

Police responded at about 12:05 a.m. to a report of shots fired into a vehicle near 22nd Street and Camden Court. According Village Police Chief Brian Strockis, Jones was hit by a spray of gunfire and killed.

"We do believe that this victim was targeted specifically by the offenders and that he may have been followed to that area. There were 21 shell casings recovered on the scene, so we're working a lot of different leads related to identifying the offenders," Strockis said.

The chief said it is Oak Brook's first murder since 2011.

The I-Team learned Jones was from the city of Chicago and had an extensive criminal history, including numerous drug and gun convictions.

Six years ago, he was arrested by CPD in a car while carrying a Glock pistol with a high-capacity drum magazine that held 30 rounds of ammo and a second similar gun stashed under the carseat.

Anyone who has any information about Jones' shooting is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Jason Wood at 630-368-8742 or jwood@oak-brook.org.