2 charged in Minnesota straw purchase of gun used to shoot Chicago cop, woman

Two Minnesota residents have been charged with illegally purchasing a gun that was later used in the Chicago shootings of a woman on Sept. 18, 2019, and a CPD officer on Sept. 21. | denissimonov - stock.adobe.com

Two Minneapolis residents were federally charged with illegally buying a gun that was used in three shootings, including those of a Chicago police office and a woman walking in the Fulton River District last week.

Sequana Cigolo, 38, and Jason Lynndrotti Winston, 48, are each charged with straw purchasing a firearm, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. Winston is also charged with aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm.

Investigators with the St. Paul and Chicago divisions of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives learned the pistol recovered during Michael Blackman’s arrest was purchased by Cigolo on July 11 at Bill’s Gun Shop in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, prosecutors said.

Michael Blackman

During an interview with investigators, Cigolo admitted to buying the gun for Winston, her ex-boyfriend’s cousin, because he was a felon and couldn’t buy it himself, prosecutors said. He paid her about $250 for the gun.

Winston later gave the gun to someone who was charged with shooting Cigolo’s brother on July 28 in Minneapolis, according to prosecutors.

The ballistics from the Minneapolis shooting matched those in the Sept. 18 shooting of the woman in the 200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue and the Sept. 21 shooting of a CPD officer trying to arrest Blackman near 64th Street and Bell Avenue, according to prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s office did not specify how the gun ended up in Chicago or in Blackman’s possession.

Cigolo and Winston were expected to make their initial court appearances Thursday afternoon in Minnesota.

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