Chicago Police Sued for Retaliatory Arrest of Gun Owner After Cops Lost/Stole Two Rounds of Ammo

Illinois’ gun control laws are onerous and burdensome…by design. But Qwentin Howard followed them all, jumping through every ridiculous hoop Illinois throws at legal firearm owners, including having a valid FOID card and a concealed carry license.

Recently, the Chicago resident got absolutely railroaded by three incompetent, thin-skinned Chicago PD clowns who clearly can’t handle basic accountability or even read the damn law. And for that Howard is probably going to get paid. As for the cops, they face discipline up to and including termination. As they should.

During a traffic stop, Officers Julian Irving and Sarah Abuosba disarmed Mr. Howard, even though that isn’t the normal procedure for CCW holders across Illinois. The two officers put his gun on the trunk during the traffic stop, and somehow—through sheer bumbling, incompetence, or worse—managed to make two rounds of his ammuniton vanish into thin air. Poof.

Whether one or both of the cops pocketed the rounds, dropped them in the gutter, or sacrificed them to the parking gods, they lost them. And Mr. Howard noticed when he got his gun back.

So what does a responsible citizen do? He drives straight to the nearby CPD District station to file a police report about his missing property. No threats, no drama, just trying to document what happened so stray rounds with his fingerprints on them don’t magically turn up at some crime scene later. And that’s when the real circus began.

At the station, Howard encountered the same two officers plus their supervisor — Officer John Sanders, the apparent king of fragile egos.

A licensed gun owner says Chicago cops secured his weapon during a traffic stop, but two bullets were missing when he got it back.

They arrested him when he tried to file a report about the missing ammo.

Now the city and the cops are getting sued.https://t.co/cVpC7PRgnv

— CWBChicago (@CWBChicago) March 1, 2026

Howard — rightly — said he’d record the interaction for his own protection. Because, you know, the CPD’s track record has been…inconsistent at times. Sanders immediately demanded a physical FOID card even though Irving had already eyeballed and accepted the digital version on Howard’s phone during the traffic stop hours earlier.

Illinois law has explicitly recognized the validity of digital FOID cards for at least two years now, but apparently these geniuses either never got the memo or decided the law doesn’t apply when they’re being called out and their feelings are hurt.

Howard calmly explained the law. Sanders and his fragile ego snapped back with the pettiest, most unhinged line imaginable: “Well, you have a problem now because you’re accusing my officers of stealing your bullets.” Translation: “How dare you imply we might be thieves…or morons who can’t secure evidence. We’re going to give you some street justice.”

Howard even tried to de-escalate, apologizing if he was wrong and just reiterating that he didn’t want loose ammo floating around with his name on it.

That didn’t work. Sanders ordered him cuffed and arrested on the spot. One of the officers (Abuosba, per the lawsuit) sneered that he’s getting locked up because he “wanted to escalate the issue and make it bigger than it had to be.”

The charge? Unlawful use of a weapon for not carrying a physical FOID card…a charge so blatantly bogus that it even got dismissed by the gun-hating Cook County State’s Attorney.

Howard then sued the City of Chicago and these three stooges cops for First Amendment retaliation, malicious prosecution, and more. A federal judge already green-lit the retaliation and malicious prosecution claims, stripping the cops of their qualified immunity. The judge basically agreed that these officers acted in an “extreme and outrageous” manner.

Irving knew damned well that the electronic FOID card was legit. The law backs it up and the whole arrest reeks of retaliatory BS. Irving also failed to stop his fellow officers from violating Howard’s civil rights.

An emotional distress claim was tossed because apparently being falsely arrested and humiliated doesn’t count as being “extreme and outrageous” enough in an Illinois court’s eyes, but the rest? Game on.

This wasn’t a case of incompetence, it was straight-up abuse of power. It was ego-driven thuggery and a blatant attempt to intimidate a law-abiding citizen into silence after the cops screwed up. The three—Irving, Abuosba, and especially the supervisor Sanders—shouldn’t just be fired, they should be made to pay. Personally.

While the Chicago PD has many fine officers, it only takes a few bad ones to sully the reputations of the rest. It’s idiots like these that keep the Internal Affairs unit busy.

Howard’s likely going to get a fat taxpayer-funded check when this all settles, and he deserves every penny. Gun owners are sick of being treated like gang-bangers in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s upside-down dystopia, where following the law gets you cuffed while actual criminals run wild.

It’s time for actual consequences for the badge-wearing bullies who think they’re above the law – or that they are the law.