Four teenagers have been charged in this incident The shooting death of a Chicago police officer He was killed last weekend as he was walking home from work, authorities said Wednesday.
Nineteen-year-olds Joseph Brooks and Trevel Breeland, Jaquan Buchanan, 18, and a 16-year-old boy face charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery in Saturday’s slaying of Officer Arianna Preston, 24. A 16-year-old suspect will be tried as an adult, CBS Chicago reported.
/ AP
The Chicago Police Department said Preston was shot during a robbery around 1:40 a.m. Saturday.
The four have been charged with armed robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft and other offenses in connection with the incidents that occurred on Friday and Saturday, police said.
The youngest suspect bragged about the shooting to a friend, CBS Chicago reported. That friend went straight to police and called the suspect back, the station reported. Now the detectives were listening.
“During this phone call the defendant, (the suspect) made additional confessions to the robbery and the shooting – the details of which have not been released,” Assistant State’s Attorney Ann Rogers McCord said.
The four were ordered held without bail Wednesday by Judge David Kelly, who said prosecutors had provided “a mountain of evidence” that the suspects were “engaged in very violent crimes.”
After the bond hearing, Preston’s mother, Dionne Moon, said she was “heartbroken” and “full of anger, rage, questions about why.”
It was not immediately known if they had a lawyer available to comment.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a statement praising police for quickly arresting the suspects responsible for Preston’s “heinous murder.”
“Their diligent efforts have removed violent, repeat offenders from our streets,” Lightfoot said.
Cook County prosecutors said Preston was off duty and on his way home after a shift on the city’s South Side early Saturday morning when the suspects drove past him in a sedan and approached him as he stopped in front of his home.
Residential surveillance video shows three men get out of the sedan and run toward Preston, who was still in uniform, before several facial flashes are visible on the video and he falls to the ground, according to court documents. Court documents allege that the attackers returned to the sedan before a man returned with Preston’s gun.
The initial call of the shooting came in around 1:42 a.m. Saturday, but a backlog issue in the district led to a delay in which officers did not immediately respond, CBS Chicago reported. At approximately 2:02 a.m., a 911 alert was received from Preston’s Apple Watch.
Interim Police Superintendent Eric Carter said Preston’s death is a tragedy for the city.
Tyrone Pendervis, commander of the 5th District where Preston worked, said the officer was a rising star whose death affected everyone who knew him.
“He will be truly missed,” she said.
According to department officials, Preston had only worked for the department for three years before his murder. His death is considered a line-of-duty death, which entitles his family to financial aid from the state, the Chicago Tribune reports.