UPDATE: Juvenile arrested yesterday for alleged connection to Springfield gun violence

By Gary Scott on June 8, 2017 at 12:20pm

Additional information has been obtained regarding yesterday’s arrest of a male juvenile on an alleged gun-related offense.

Local authorities are reporting that the 17-year old was arrested by Jacksonville Police at approximately 1 p.m. yesterday in the 600 block of South Diamond.

Jacksonville officers worked with both Springfield Police and the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice to locate the juvenile, who was wanted on a warrant for unlawful use of a weapon for an alleged connection to recent incidents of gun violence in Springfield. However, the specific incident in which the juvenile is allegedly connected to is unknown to Jacksonville Police.

Jacksonville Police Lieutenant Doug Thompson explains how the different agencies worked together in locating the suspect and making the arrest.

“Springfield (Police) contacted us and advised us that they had received information that (the suspect) may be over in Jacksonville. Then Juvenile Justice contacted us and advised that they believed that they knew where the juvenile was. He was actually supposed to meet with Juvenile Justice, then met with them outside of a residence, and since he was outside and we had the warrant for his arrest, we took him into custody without incident there,” says Thompson.

Thompson says the case is now being handled by the Springfield Police Department.

“That incident in particular will all handled by Springfield. However, if Springfield (Police) call us and advises us that they have further parties involved, we will continue working with them and do everything we can to help them curb the issues that they’re having over there,” says Thompson.

Local authorities believe the juvenile was in Jacksonville visiting a friend at the time of his arrest. According to Thompson, the 17-year old is paroled into Springfield and was transferred to Sangamon County for juvenile court proceedings.