2 brothers charged in fatal shooting of Chicago officer
By MICHAEL TARM
AP Legal Affairs Writer
Posted:
Updated:
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police officers salute as a procession for a police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell drives by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
A Chicago police procession for a police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell drives by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
HOGP
This undated booking photo provided by the Chicago Police Department shows Eric Morgan, one of two brothers who have been charged in a weekend shooting during a traffic stop that left one Chicago police officer dead and another seriously wounded.
Chicago police say a 29-year-old officer died and a second was wounded in an exchange of gunfire during a traffic stop. The death of the female officer Saturday night was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since 2018.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police officers stand at attention as a procession for a police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell drives by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police officers and firefighters walk with the ambulance carrying the remains of a police officer who was shot and killed at 63rd and Bell earlier as the ambulance drives into the loading bay of the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
A Chicago police officer rubs his eyes while standing in line with other officers outside the Cook County Medical Examiners Office right before a procession for a Chicago police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police officers salute as a procession for a police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell drives by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
A Chicago police procession for a police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell drives by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago Firefighters straighten out an American flag that's hanging from firetruck ladders, outside the Cook County Medical Examiners Office on Harrison St and Leavitt St, in preparation for a procession for a Chicago police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
A Chicago police procession for a police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell drives by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
A Chicago Firefighter ties blue ribbons onto a pole outside the Cook County Medical Examiners Office on Harrison St in preparation for a procession for a Chicago police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago Firefighters straighten out an American flag that's hanging from firetruck ladders, outside the Cook County Medical Examiners Office on Harrison St and Leavitt St, in preparation for a procession for a Chicago police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
A Chicago Firefighter and a police officer walk towards Harrison and Leavitt after wrapping trees and poles outside the Cook County in preparation for a procession for a Chicago police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021.
HOGP
This undated booking photo provided by the Chicago Police Department shows Eric Morgan, one of two brothers who have been charged in a weekend shooting during a traffic stop that left one Chicago police officer dead and another seriously wounded.
CHICAGO (AP) — Two Chicago brothers have been charged in a weekend shooting during a traffic stop that left one police officer dead and another seriously wounded, the Chicago Police Department announced in a Monday press release.
Emonte Morgan, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in Saturday’s fatal shooting of 29-year-old officer Ella French, as well as attempted murder and other charges. Eric Morgan, 22, faces charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and obstruction of justice.
They and a woman were in a vehicle stopped by police on Chicago’s South Side Saturday night when gunfire erupted. The one-page release offered no details about why the vehicle was stopped or what unfolded before the shooting started.
Officers had stopped a vehicle Saturday with two men and a woman inside just after 9 p.m., when a male passenger opened fire, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said Sunday. Officers returned fire, striking the passenger who appeared to fire at them, Brown said.
The brothers are scheduled to appear in a Cook County bond court on Tuesday.
Earlier Monday, federal prosecutors charged an Indiana man with purchasing and then illegally supplying the semi-automatic handgun used in the shooting, the first in which an officer died from a gunshot in the line of duty in nearly three years.
Jamel Danzy, 29, is accused of buying the weapon from a licensed gun dealer in Hammond, Indiana, in March and then providing it to an Illinois resident who Danzy knew could neither buy nor possess guns because of a felony conviction.
The person who received it was in a vehicle from which someone shot the officers Saturday night during a traffic stop and that the same gun was recovered from the person by arresting officers, said a statement from Chicago’s U.S. attorney’s office, which did not identify the person by name.
French’s death was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since 2018 and the first female officer fatally shot on the job in 33 years. The Chicago Police Department’s Facebook page said Sunday that French’s wounded partner remained in “hospital fighting for his life.”
Danzy, of Hammond, made an initial appearance Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chicago on conspiracy to violate federal firearm laws, including knowingly transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident and knowingly disposing of a firearm to a convicted felon. The conspiracy conviction carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert ordered Danzy be held at least until a Wednesday detention hearing.
Chicago has for years sought to stem the inflow of guns that has helped fueled persistently high homicide rates in the city, especially from nearby states like Indiana, where guns rules aren’t as stringent.
The U.S. attorney’s office highlighted how the the Department of Justice has made stemming illegal gun trafficking a high priority.
“Straw purchasers and firearm traffickers enable violence with deadly consequences,” U.S. Attorney John Lausch said in a statement.
