Judge orders man held behind bars after bizarre shooting through CTA subway grates

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The man accused of firing bullets upward through a CTA subway grate downtown Chicago earlier this week is being held, pending trial.

It was before 9 a.m. Monday, Memorial Day, when police say hidden gunfire erupted onto the street. The bullets, investigators say, were flying upward from subway air shafts underground.

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Cook County prosecutors said in court that gunman fired because he said he wanted people to know he was armed.

In the dank belly of the Red Line, at the center of Chicago's Loop, police say Rayvon Savary, 24, crawled into a vent shaft next to the Red Line tracks and pulled out a handgun.

Just above, investigators say, two men passed over the steel grates outside the Chick-fil-A just as shots came through the slots, just missing them. The smell of smoke filled the air over the State and Lake Street sidewalk, as Chicago police officers ran to the intersection. That's when prosecutors say officers reported hearing a voice coming from underground.

Investigators rushed down the stairs to the tunnel, and, as they arrived, prosecutors told a Cook County judge Wednesday afternoon, they heard what sounded like the defendant racking the slide of a gun. Immediately, prosecutors said, officers took a tactical position in the tunnel.

As some officers negotiated with who prosecutors said was an armed Savary, others shut down power to the Red Line tracks. When Savary emerged, prosecutors say police removed a 9 mm handgun from his hip with a bullet still lodged in the chamber, two spent bullets nearby and a live bullet in Savary's breast pocket.

Prosecutors say CTA surveillance video shows how Savary scrambled south on the catwalk of the subway, across the train tracks and into the vent shafts: all areas off-limits to the public.

Now what investigators are trying to figure out is why.

Wednesday afternoon, a Cook County judg ordered Savary detained on felony weapons charges.

The CTA sent a statement to the I-Team, saying "The CTA is always looking for ways to enhance safety, especially as it relates to our rail system's 224 miles of track and infrastructure. We are currently developing multiple pilots for various technologies to be deployed at multiple CTA locations that can help alert our 24/7 Operations Control Center to possible right of way intrusions - allowing for the prompt removal of power and requesting of emergency assistance as needed.

"The technologies being tested are intended to be used not only in subways, but also on elevated and at-grade stations. These pilots are being developed through the new CTA Innovation Studio, which was created to expedite the process of soliciting private sector proposals and pilot new, state-of-the-art solutions to help solve issues facing all aspects of our agency and our riders."