Evanston police say they arrested a 15-year-old Rogers Park youth who’d been carrying a handgun on Howard Street on Christmas Eve.

Officers say they spotted the youth walking on Howard west of Ridge Avenue about 3:35 p.m. Saturday and knew that he was wanted by Chicago police.

When officers tried to stop him, he ran, and Cmdr. Jay Parrott says the officers saw him discard a plastic bag and what appeared to be a handgun as he fled before being captured by police at Ridge and Birchwood, about a block south of the Evanston border.

Police say they recovered the plastic bag, which contained suspected marijuana, and a .22 caliber handgun from the locations where the teenager tossed them away.

The youth, whose name is being withheld because he’s a juvenile, now faces felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and misdemeanor charges of possession of cannabis and resisting a peace officer.

He was remanded to the custody of the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.

Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now.

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