POSEN, IL – Kewan Tillman, 20, of Calumet City, Illinois, will spend the next ten years of his life behind bars after a federal judge handed down the sentence Friday for a terrifying carjacking at a Posen gas station last year. The incident, which unfolded in broad daylight, left a woman and her two young children shaken but unharmed.
On July 27, 2022, Tillman approached a woman entering her Kia Optima at the Thorntons gas station. Brandishing a loaded handgun, he demanded the keys, putting the woman and her children in immediate danger. The victim managed to get her children out of the vehicle before Tillman sped off in the stolen car.
The joyride was short-lived. Tillman quickly lost control of the Kia Optima and crashed. Undeterred, he abandoned the vehicle and attempted to break into an occupied semi-truck before turning his attention to another parked vehicle at the gas pump. A physical altercation ensued with the driver of that second vehicle, leading to Tillman’s arrest by Posen Police officers.
Investigators quickly recovered the handgun Tillman tossed into a sewer. The weapon wasn’t just any firearm; it was equipped with an illegal “Glock switch,” also known as an “auto sear,” transforming it into a fully automatic machine gun. Tillman himself arrived at the scene in another stolen vehicle, a Kia Soul reported missing from Chicago.
Tillman pleaded guilty to federal carjacking and firearm charges earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo imposed the ten-year sentence after a hearing in Chicago. Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Morris Pasqual, and Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the ATF, announced the sentence, praising the work of the Posen Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Walgamuth prosecuted the case. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the brazen violence plaguing the Chicago area and the federal government’s commitment to prosecuting those who endanger the public with firearms. The ATF continues to investigate the source of the illegal Glock switch, aiming to disrupt the flow of these dangerous modifications.
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