In November 2024, Chicago police arrived at a Lincoln Park liquor store during an attempted smash-and-grab burglary. Although the crew managed to flee in several getaway vehicles, one individual was left behind. This man, who was on parole, is now facing federal prison time for possessing a gun during the crime.
Narveal Raggs, aged 27, admitted to illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and was sentenced to 80 months by U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall, as revealed by officials.
Raggs and a group of unidentified accomplices attempted to break into Lakeside Food Wine and Spirits, located at 2601 North Halsted Street, in the early hours of November 15, 2024. The Chicago Police responded swiftly to a 911 call reporting the break-in.
According to prosecutors, when the officers arrived, two getaway cars sped off in different directions on Halsted Street, leaving Raggs behind. He fled on foot, threw a loaded Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol onto the roof of a nearby single-story building, and ducked into an alley behind the store. Officers later retrieved the gun, and the entire incident was captured on surveillance and body camera footage.
When officers finally caught up with Raggs about six minutes into their pursuit, he was without shoes. Asked about his presence there, Raggs replied, “Just chilling.” Officers also found a jacket and gloves discarded nearby.
The pistol Raggs discarded was not an ordinary firearm, according to prosecutors. It was modified with a “switch” device enabling it to fire multiple rounds with a single trigger pull, transforming it into a machine gun. The weapon also featured an extended magazine.
Court documents indicate the gun was reported stolen in Sacramento, California, in February 2024. Federal ballistics data linked it to two separate shootings in Chicago during July and August of that year. However, prosecutors clarified that there was no further evidence tying Raggs to those shootings.
Federal prosecutors, in their sentencing documents, also claimed that Raggs did not simply revert to criminal behavior after one unsuccessful break-in. They asserted that surveillance footage and police reports from both the Calumet City and Chicago Police Departments connected Raggs to at least two other armed burglaries in the days preceding the Lincoln Park incident.
On November 12, 2024, a group of masked, armed men reportedly broke into City Food Market in Calumet City, using a chain and a Jeep to yank an ATM from the store. Two days later, on November 14, 2024, a similar group allegedly targeted Fairplay Foods in Chicago, brandishing firearms at an employee before extracting another ATM in the same fashion. Prosecutors noted that a masked individual resembling Raggs and wearing similar clothing appeared in surveillance footage from both incidents. He was not charged in these cases.
Raggs has an extensive criminal record, which prosecutors argued justified a sentence at the higher end of the federal guidelines range of 70 to 87 months. Court documents detail a series of gun-related arrests and convictions dating back to 2016, including charges for being an armed habitual criminal and reckless discharge of a firearm related to a 2018 shootout outside an East Beverly barbershop. Prosecutors mentioned that Raggs had been released on parole from state prison in January 2024, ten months before the Lincoln Park burglary attempt.
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