The father of a rapper whose album release party was the setting of a River North mass shooting last week is facing federal gun charges, court records show.
Melvin Doyle, 59, is the father of rapper Mello Buckzz, whose birth name is Melanie Doyle, who hosted a party on July 2 where a shooting broke out, leaving four people dead and 14 more wounded.
Doyle, who was convicted in 1998 of attempted murder and in 2003 and 2006 for drug charges, is unauthorized to possess firearms under Illinois law.
Between May and July of this year, Doyle sold 13 firearms to confidential informants with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, according to an affidavit signed by ATF agent Iskar Smith filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday.
On May 20, Doyle met with two ATF informants at his home in the Washington Park neighborhood. He sold them a Glock firearm, which they turned over to law enforcement according to the affidavit. One of the informants had previously bought a gun from Doyle in 2022, the affidavit says.
Between May 29 and July 7, the informants met Doyle at a home in Woodlawn and bought 12 more guns from him, records show.
On Monday, informants bought three pistols from Doyle for $3,000, the affidavit says. Doyle was arrested 1.6 miles away from the Woodlawn home in the 6500 block of South Yale Avenue.
Doyle is being held in federal custody ahead of a detention hearing Friday, according to the Department of Justice.
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