Pressure Cooker, Rifle Found In Man's Car Near O'Hare

CHICAGO, IL -- On Saturday morning, Chicago police pulled a man over for speeding on Cumberland Road, near the Kennedy Expressway. Officers reported finding a rifle and a pressure cooker in the man's car, and arrested him after he didn't have an Illinois Firearm Owners ID. The man's family, however, said the arrest was a misunderstanding.

Santos Zamora, 32, of Wisconsin, appeared before a Cook County judge Sunday on a felony gun charge. Zamora's arrest set off a counter-terrorism investigation, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Pressure cookers have been used to make bombs since the 1970s, and can be devastating, as witnessed in the Boston Marathon bombing. Investigators said they found traces of food in the pressure cooker in Zamora's car, and that helped dispel concerns that he was planning to use it as a weapon.

Zamora's family members said he was visiting his newborn nephew in Chicago, and had planned to go to a gun range with his brother. The family members said Zamora wasn't familiar with the gun ID law in Illinois. (For more local news, subscribe to free email news alerts and a daily newsletter for your hometown Patch.)

People from other states are allowed to have guns and shoot in local gun ranges, but the law requires that guns must be unloaded, in a case, and not immediately accessible when they're being transported.

Zamora also faces violations for driving without insurance and speeding. He has been granted a $5,000 bond, and is set to appear back in court Friday.

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