A 30-year-old man is going through fees for allegedly firing at two Chicago law enforcement officials throughout a fuel station shootout in Englewood six years in the past. Courtroom data present he was on felony bail on the time of the crime.
Dontrell Cooper is charged with two counts of tried homicide of a peace officer in reference to the shootout within the early morning of August 11, 2019.
The officers, in full uniform and driving a marked patrol automotive, have been dealing with a disturbance at a fuel station within the 200 block of West 63rd Avenue once they heard gunfire exterior, prosecutors stated. The cops allegedly noticed Cooper and one other man, Jose Reynolds, utilizing a black SUV for canopy.
One officer stated he noticed each males level their weapons towards him and hearth in his course. The second officer reported seeing muzzle flashes, one from Reynolds and two from Cooper, earlier than she returned hearth. The lads ran from the lot and escaped by leaping into an SUV close to St. Bernard Hospital, in accordance with a detention petition.
Investigators recovered a 9-millimeter and a .40-caliber handgun hidden in bushes alongside the trail the lads took whereas working from the fuel station. Prosecutors stated ballistics exams confirmed the weapons have been used to fireplace on the officers. In 2021, DNA evaluation recognized Cooper as the most important contributor to samples taken from the .40-caliber pistol.
Reynolds, who turned up at a hospital inside 10 minutes of the taking pictures with a gunshot wound, was arrested and charged with tried homicide of law enforcement officials. He finally pleaded responsible in 2023 to aggravated discharge of a firearm towards a peace officer, receiving a 10-year sentence.
Prosecutors stated a search of his telephone revealed {a photograph} of Cooper sporting the identical clothes as one of many shooters.
Cooper not too long ago surfaced after being arrested on unrelated fees and hospitalized for undisclosed accidents. Courtroom data present he’s nonetheless within the hospital and can seem in courtroom for a detention listening to as soon as discharged.
On the time of the shootout, Cooper was already on bail for a felony aggravated fleeing cost, which later resulted in probation.
The case additionally ties into Cook dinner County’s bail reform debate. Two months after the shootout, Chief Decide Timothy Evans stated, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents happen” underneath the bail reform initiative he launched in 2017.
In response, CWBChicago started its “Not Horrible” reporting sequence, which has documented greater than 400 folks shot or killed by defendants on felony pretrial launch in Cook dinner County.
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