Dec. 06--A Skokie woman who authorities said once owned the gun used in the brazen murder-suicide at the Nordstrom store off Michigan Avenue on Black Friday was ordered held Saturday in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Nina Dones, 23, of the 4900 block of West Hull Street in Skokie, was charged Friday night with disorderly conduct, a class four felony, after filing a false police report in September that claimed the .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun had been stolen from her Skokie apartment, according to law enforcement sources and court documents.
Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Sean Brady said Saturday there was no information to suggest that Dones knew the gun would be used in the murder-suicide.
Investigators traced the weapon to Dones through her purchase of the gun in 2013 at GAT Guns, a 45,000-square-foot store and indoor range in northwest suburban East Dundee, according to law enforcement officials.
Brady said Saturday the gun purchase was made on behalf of a man she was dating at the time who was ineligible for an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification card because of mental illness. Brady said that man was not Marcus Dee, who used the gun to fatally shoot his ex-girlfriend before turning the weapon on himself as shoppers ran for safety on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Brady said Dones has no criminal background.
Her mother and other family members were in court Saturday.
"She's never been in trouble," said her mother, Helen Dones, after the hearing who added that she's "a good person" and an animal lover with many pets. Another family member present said she was planning to enroll in community college and was considering studying something related to dentistry.
Law enforcement sources have said a former or current boyfriend of Dones' was an acquaintance of Dee's. Dee could not legally possess a gun because he didn't have a valid firearm owner's identification card, one source said.
According to her Facebook page, Dones is a bartender at a Gold Coast nightclub. She graduated from Steinmetz College Prep on the Northwest Side in 2010, her Facebook page said.
