Feds charge man with giving handgun to felon who shot young mother

No one has been arrested in the killing of Nicole De Leon, who was with her kids in her South Chicago Heights home when she was gunned down this summer.

But on Wednesday, a 23-year-old man was ordered held without bond in federal court for allegedly providing a gun to a felon suspected of shooting De Leon with it.

Sabastian Torres, a Latin Counts member, was charged in state court in early May with having a gun and a small amount of cocaine in his car, according to court records.

He was freed on bond.

A few weeks later, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Torres bought a .357-caliber revolver in an online purchase from a store in Minnesota. He picked up the gun at a store in Monee on May 23, according to the ATF.

Torres, who didn’t have a criminal record, had a state Firearm Owner’s Identification Card that allowed him to buy the gun, authorities say.

He lent the revolver to his girlfriend’s brother, whom he’d known since high school, according to the ATF.

On June 2, that man — who isn’t identified in court records — is suspected of shooting his 25-year-old girlfriend, De Leon, in the head, according to federal authorities.

Torres knew his fellow gang member was violent, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Rojas said. Torres witnessed the man stab someone in a bar, Rojas said.

The .357-caliber revolver that Torres bought matches the description of the gun that was used to kill De Leon, Rojas added.

The suspect in the killing is serving a sentence in an Illinois prison for burglary, officials say.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Cox ordered Torres held without bond on a federal charge of knowingly transferring a firearm to a known felon. She emphasized that Torres already was free on bond in state court when he gave the gun to the suspected killer.

“When you are on bond, you are not allowed to have firearms,” she said.

The .357-caliber revolver was among eight guns Torres purchased since 2016, according to ATF.

Torres appeared in court in a black-and-white striped jail uniform as his family looked on. His attorney, Piyush Chandra, unsuccessfully urged the judge to release Torres until his trial, possibly on electronic monitoring. For the past four years, Torres has worked in a steel factory that supplies Ford Motor Co., Chandra said.

The lawyer also noted that Torres has cooperated with the ATF and state authorities investigating De Leon’s murder. He said his client doesn’t pose a threat to the community.