Ashburn Raid Nets Machine Gun Switches, Fentanyl — Three Charged, One Held

Investigators searching a home in Chicago's Ashburn neighborhood recovered 10 illegal machinegun conversion switches, two firearms, a bundle of ammunition, fentanyl-laced pills, and more than $14,000 in cash, leading to felony charges against three people. The search warrant was carried out on Aug. 13 at a residence in the 2700 block of West 84th Street, a joint operation between the Cook County Sheriff's Police Organized Crime Division and U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators.

According to a post from the Cook County Sheriff's Office, the raid stemmed from an investigation into a delivery of switches — small devices that illegally convert semiautomatic handguns into fully automatic weapons. Federal law and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulations classify these conversion devices as illegal machine guns, which is why Homeland Security Investigations agents joined Sheriff's deputies in targeting the suspected delivery, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal agency notes that in September 2024, authorities seized more than 350 internet domain names tied to foreign suppliers in China that were illegally shipping the devices directly to residential addresses across the country.

Beyond the switches and firearms, investigators recovered Xanax pills, pills that field-tested positive for fentanyl, oxycodone pills, a bottle of promethazine, and suspected cannabis at the Ashburn home, per the Sheriff's Office post. Sheriff's Police took three people into custody the same day.

Three Face Distinct Felony Charges

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office filed charges against all three defendants on Aug. 24. Rashaun Lee, 26, of Chicago, was charged with possession of a firearm by a repeat felony offender. Under Illinois statute 720 ILCS 5/24-1.1, that charge carries mandatory prison time without eligibility for probation, typically prosecuted as a Class 3 or Class 2 felony with sentences ranging from two to ten years, according to Jack Zaremba Law.

Dawan Murry, 22, of East Chicago, Indiana, was charged with manufacture or delivery of fentanyl and possession of a controlled substance. Murry was on probation for an aggravated fleeing case at the time of his arrest. Brasean Doss, 22, of Chicago, was charged with possession of more than 500 grams of cannabis. Possessing between 500 and 2,000 grams remains a Class 3 felony under 720 ILCS 550/4(e), punishable by two to five years in prison and fines up to $25,000, even though Illinois legalized recreational cannabis in 2020 with a 30-gram personal possession limit, according to NORML.

Split Outcomes at Leighton Courthouse

All three defendants appeared for their initial hearings on Aug. 15 at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse, which houses Cook County's Pretrial and Criminal Divisions. Doss and Murry were both ordered released from custody, while Lee was ordered held. Illinois eliminated cash bail statewide in September 2023 under the Pretrial Fairness Act, requiring judges to hold individualized detention hearings where prosecutors must petition the court to keep a defendant in custody rather than setting a monetary bond, per Illinois Legal Aid Online. All three defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The fentanyl-laced pills recovered in the raid land amid a broader public health picture in the county. Cook County saw a 42% reduction in opioid overdose fatalities between 2022 and 2024, though illicit fentanyl was still involved in 87% of all opioid overdose deaths in 2024, according to a June 2026 report from Cook County public health officials and the Medical Examiner's Office.

Part of a Broader Pattern of Raids

The Ashburn search fits an operational pattern for the Sheriff's Police Organized Crime Division, which regularly conducts joint search warrants with state and federal partners targeting narcotics hubs and firearm distribution networks across Chicago and suburban Cook County. Hoodline previously reported guns and cocaine seized in a Dolton raid earlier this month, and similar operations have turned up firearms, cash, and narcotics in Dolton in March, East Garfield Park in May, and Chicago Heights in January.

Ashburn, Chicago's Community Area 70, spans nearly five square miles on the Southwest Side, bounded by 72nd Street, 87th Street, Western Avenue, and Cicero Avenue, and is home to roughly 42,000 residents as of 2024, according to background compiled on the neighborhood. No further hearing dates were disclosed for the three defendants as their cases move through Cook County's court system.