An alleged West Side gang member and felon is facing federal weapons charges after authorities claimed he shot a gun at a suburban firing range and then bragged about it on Instagram.
Labar Spann, 36, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to a statement Thursday from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Spann, a onetime member of the Four Corner Hustlers known as “Broman,” was one of several reputed West Side gang leaders called to a meeting with then-Police Supt. Jody Weis in 2010 in an effort to stem gang violence.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court, claims Spann went with two women to Midwest Sporting Goods in Lyons on Sept. 14, 2014, where one of the women rented a Glock 19C .9mm handgun.
A store employee told authorities he or she saw the three head to the firing line, where Spann loaded and shot the firearm at a target, the complaint said. Spann allegedly also loaded the weapon for both women with him, who each took a turn shooting.
Video surveillance showed Spann and the two women in the store that day, the complaint said.
Prosecutors claim Spann took to Instagram during the time he was at the store, posting videos of two people inside a gun range, with the sound of a gun firing in the background.
According to the complaint, one of the video’s captions read, “Yea this the type of s— I do with my b—— so why n—–’s chase p—- I’m chasing loyalty and [bag of money emoticon].”
Another photo posted to Spann’s Instagram account minutes later showed a shooting target with holes in it, prosecutors claim. Its caption said, “y’all know I had to go first just to show my b—- how this s— work lmao I do this s—,” according to the complaint.
Spann’s Instagram account was marked as private as of Thursday afternoon.
Spann has several felony convictions stretching back to 1996, including harassment of a witness, armed robbery and bringing contraband into a penal institution, according to federal authorities.
At the time of the 2010 meeting with police, Spann insisted he was not a gang chief, and a relative said he was no longer active in the gang, the Chicago Sun-Times reported at the time.
Spann — who uses a wheelchair because he was wounded in a shooting — was also charged with but ultimately cleared in the 2003 murder of Latin Kings gangster Rudy Rangel Jr., the Sun-Times reported previously.
Witnesses at the time of the shooting told police they saw a victim being carried away from the scene, but investigators later said they thought it was Spann, who needed to be carried to and from crime scenes.
Rapper DMX memorialized Rangel’s death in the song “A Yo Kato.”
The federal complaint was unsealed Thursday after Spann appeared in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason. He was ordered to remain in custody pending a detention hearing Monday.
