The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has declined to file additional charges against Gary E. Johnson, who was arrested in connection with the fatal Aug. 14 shooting in Evanston of Hamza Hammouis.
Police say Johnson, 26, of 1755 E. 78th St. in Chicago, got into a verbal dispute with Hammouis near the intersection of Howard Street and Chicago Avenue about 2:45 a.m. that day.
Cmdr. Joseph Dugan says, based on accounts from witnesses, it appears the argument escalated into a physical confrontation and during the fight Johnson gained control of a Glock handgun that Hammouis had brought to the scene and fired the gun with a bullet fatally strking Hammouis in the head.
Dugan says it doesn’t appear that the two men knew each other or had had any previous contact. Witnesses apparently didn’t see how the dispute began, so it’s not clear what triggered it.
Dugan says the gun Hammouis was carrying had been legally obtained by a relative.
Hammouis, 25, had recently moved to Chicago from Paris and had gotten married earlier this summer.
Johnson already faces a felony charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon because, police say, he had the gun he’d taken from Hammouis in his possession when he was arrested.