CHICAGO (AP) – An Iowa man – 32-year old Keegan Casteel – who was in custody in Chicago after police found a rifle with a laser sight and several rounds of ammunition in a hotel room that overlooks a Lake Michigan beach during the July Fourth weekend made bond and then proposed to his girlfriend upon his release.
Authorities say a member of the cleaning staff at the W Hotel told police on Sunday they observed the rifle, a handgun and ammunition in the room occupied by Casteel.
The weapons were found on a 12th floor window sill. Casteel of Ankeny, Iowa, was arrested at the hotel and faces two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. A Cook County judge on Tuesday ordered him held in lieu of $10,000 bond. Casteel was released on Wednesday.
On July 4, Chicago Police responded to the W Hotel at 644 North Lake Shore Drive about 6:45 p.m. after receiving reports from an employee at the hotel of a rifle and handgun in a “very suspicious position” inside of the hotel rooms, according to Chicago Police Chief Derrick Brown,
During a press conference on July 6, Brown said, “We responded and arrested a Keegan Casteel,” Brown said. He said police found a handgun, rifle and five rifle magazines on the window sill of the hotel room where Casteel was staying, Brown told reporters. According to authorities, it was a housekeeper who reported seeing the gun.
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