8-Jan-22 – The gun was not loaded, but a 24-year-old woman did not know that as her boyfriend, according to Chicago police, waved a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol at her during an argument at Marina City in December.

Jacob Nicotra, a 25-year-old student at Elmhurst University, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon – a charge later dismissed – following a late-night incident on December 17.

Police were responding to a report from Nicotra of someone with a knife in an apartment at Marina City, but when they arrived at 2:43 a.m., they soon determined that Nicotra was the aggressor.

According to the police report, Nicotra and the woman were arguing when Nicotra went into the bedroom, took the gun from a dresser drawer, and was “waving it erratically and violently” at the woman as he continued to “argue and yell.”

Fearing Nicotra (left) would use the gun against her, the woman took control of a bag that contained a machete and three boxes of ammunition. She pleaded with Nicotra to put down the weapon, and when he did, she took the machete from the bag to keep him at a distance. Nicotra then told her the gun was not loaded. He called police as the woman remained in the bedroom with the machete.

Responding officers found no live round in the gun. The woman told them, according to the police report, there had been at least three previous violent incidents involving Nicotra, including one incident in which she was battered.

While Nicotra was in custody, he complained of chest pains and shortness of breath, and an ambulance transported him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The woman told police it was just a ploy he had learned while taking a concealed carry class, to complain of chest pains to delay arrest and obtain legal counsel.

Nicotra was later taken to the 18th district police station. His initial appearance hearing was scheduled for December 18.

Charge dismissed three days later

The assault charge against Nicotra was dismissed on December 21, 2021, during a court appearance before Circuit Judge Megan Goldish at the Domestic Violence Courthouse.

The victim in the incident, who contacted Loop North News after this story was first published, says what she told the police “was not accurately reflected in the police report.”

She denied telling police that Nicotra waved a gun at her, or that he had battered her previously. She said Nicotra did not assault her physically or threaten her verbally during the December incident, though in the past, she says police have been called to the apartment due to verbal altercations.

She called the incident “a domestic argument that got out of hand but should never have led to an arrest.”

She says Nicotra has moved out of state. The gun used in the incident was confiscated and destroyed, according to court records.