California man wearing body armor with loaded gun arrested at Chicago train station

CHICAGO -- A 21-year-old California man is being held in the Illinois' Cook County jail on $100,000 bond after authorities say he was caught in Chicago's Union Station with a loaded handgun, wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a bag of police SWAT equipment.

A spokesperson for the Cook County state's attorney tells ABC7's sister station WLS-TV's investigative team, I-Team, that investigators believe the SWAT gear was stolen from New York City police. The suspect, Isaiah Malailua, was arrested Friday morning at Chicago's busiest train station.

He is being held in jail on a charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon/body armor according a officials of the Cook County sheriff's department. The loaded gun he was carrying was a Taurus brand 9 mm pistol, investigators said. His next court date is Friday, the I-Team has been told.

This incident is the second time in a little more than a month that an armed man has been arrested in downtown Chicago while wearing bullet-resistant body armor. The first case, Feb. 13, involved a fatal shooting. That suspect, Shomari Legghette, a four-time felon, was arrested after police said he allegedly used a 9 mm pistol to shoot and kill CPD commander Paul Bauer in an outside stairwell at the Illinois Thompson Center.

Friday's arrest did not involve shots being fired or any injuries, and there is no known connection between the cases other than similar circumstances.

Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke on Friday set bail at $100,000. Authorities said Malailua, from Redding, California, was arrested after police sniffer dogs detected explosive residue in an unattended bag.

Officers at Union Station then found items in the bag with NYPD SWAT patches and a bus ticket for Malailua.

"We are aware of the incident and are working with authorities in Chicago," said NYPD representatives Sunday. "The investigation is ongoing."