Smell of 'Unburnt Cannabis' Leads to Handgun Find

EVANSTON, IL - A pair of 24-year olds were charged with misdemeanors shortly after midnight on Easter Sunday when police found a loaded Colt .357 revolver in a car they were occupying on Emerson Street in Evanston.

Police officers were on deployment patrol in the 1700 block of Emerson at 12:15 a.m. on Sunday, March 27 when they noticed one of the two men drinking from a bottle of alcohol.

When they approached, police claim they noticed an odor of “unburnt cannabis” emanating from the vehicle and a search that followed located the weapon underneath the front passenger seat.

The driver of the vehicle, Antonio D. Sanders, 24, of the 1400 block of Darrow Ave. in Evanston, was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis and having no valid driver’s license.

The passenger, Rodshawn B. Ruffin, 24, of Hoffman Estates, was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm without firearm owners identification card, unlawful possession of firearm ammunition without firearm owners identification car and consuming alcohol in a vehicle parked on public property.