(The following story by Chris Hack appeared on the Daily Southtown website on October 25.)
CHICAGO — A South Side man now faces federal charges alleging he shot at a Metra engineer on the Electric Line twice in three days this summer.
Telly Virgin, 31, of the 7000 block of South Calumet Avenue, was initially arrested by Chicago police last month on charges of aggravated discharge of a weapon. Thursday, he was transferred to federal custody and charged with endangering the safety of a railroad employee.
Virgin was ordered held in custody following an appearance before a federal magistrate; he’s due back in court Nov. 2.
According to court papers, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has been investigating gunshots fired at Metra engineers June 6 and June 8 at the Stewart Ridge Station at 121st Street and South Harvard Avenue.
On June 6, an engineer pulling in to the station station saw a man standing on the edge of the platform pull a chrome-plated handgun from his coat and point it at the cab. The engineer dropped to the floor and heard three gunshots; two .25-caliber slugs were later found embedded in the locomotive.
Two days later, another engineer saw a man matching the description of the shooter from the first incident standing on the platform. That engineer also had to duck as the man opened fire on the cab.
Two Metra employees picked Virgin out of a police lineup as the shooter in the June 8 incident, according to a FBI affidavit.
U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Randall Samborn declined to comment on earlier reports Virgin was acting on behalf of his buddy, who was also arrested last month by Chicago police for harassing his estranged wife, an engineer on the Electric Line. Virgin was the only person charged in the federal complaint unsealed Thursday.
Samborn also declined to comment on any connection between the shootings and recent instances of railroad spikes being removed from tracks on the Electric Line and Metra’s South Shore Line, except to say all the incidents remain under investigation.