CHICAGO — Police found a handgun hidden in shrubs Wednesday just a block south of where 7-year-old Julian King’s body was found earlier this week.
The weapon was being tested to compare with ballistics taken from the murder scenes where actress Jennifer Hudson’s family members were slain, police said.
Officials would not say whether the gun was a .45-caliber weapon, the type sources said was used to kill Hudson’s nephew, Julian King, as well as the celebrity’s mother, Darnell Donerson and her brother, Jason Hudson.
A few other “small bits of evidence” were also recovered next to the gun, police said.
Police cautioned against reading too much into the discovery before forensic testing was conducted. In neighborhoods where street gangs operate, firearms are usually hidden in public places rather than carried by gang members. Being caught with a gun by police is a serious felony that could bring a prison sentence.
Police have named William Balfour, Jennifer Hudson’s former brother-in-law, a suspect. Balfour’s girlfriend told police he had acknowledged to her he was involved in the shootings.
