Man pointed gun at ATF agent’s face while toddler stood nearby, feds allege

Federal prosecutors say a man with a toddler by his side pointed a handgun in the face of an ATF agent in Englewood just after midnight Wednesday morning, told the agent to “keep moving” and then picked up the child and ran.

The allegations against Joseph Hammond, 33, appear in a seven-page criminal complaint filed in federal court Wednesday.

A 911 call reporting there was a man shooting a gun while carrying a book bag and a baby in the 900 block of West 68th Street drew agents to West 68th and South Sangamon around 12:02 a.m. Wednesday. On the northwest corner, they found Hammond, who was standing with his hands at his side with a toddler in front of him.

When agents approached in their vehicle to speak to Hammond, they said he pointed a black semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine at an agent’s face and said, “Keep moving.”

Chicago Police Department

The agents moved their car out of the line of fire and tried to chase Hammond north on Sangamon as he picked up the child and ran, according to the complaint. Other agents joined the chase, but the feds say they lost sight of Hammond as he ran between houses to the west.

Eventually, someone told an agent to “just look on Morgan.” At 12:47 a.m., agents found Hammond walking west on West 68th toward South Morgan, still carrying a backpack and the toddler, as well as another small backpack.

When agents stopped him and said, “police,” Hammond allegedly began to reach into one backpack. Agents told him to “stop,” and “show me your hands” before arresting Hammond, according to the complaint.

Inside the open backpack, agents said they saw the extended magazine and pistol grip of a firearm. They said it was a loaded 10mm semiautomatic Glock pistol.

A photo in the criminal complaint shows the gun in a bag with diapers and a sippy cup. Agents said Hammond later apologized and claimed he didn’t know the agents were law enforcement. All the agents were wearing ballistic vests emblazoned with the word “Police,” according to the complaint.

Hammond has several previous convictions, according to the feds. They include an attempted first-degree murder conviction in 2006, for which he was sentenced to six years in prison, and an aggravated battery of a police officer conviction in 2008, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.