Judge orders man charged in killing of Chicago OEMC worker Da'J Flowers held until trial

A Cook County judge on Friday ordered Darreon Plummer held in jail until trial in the killing of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications employee Da'J Flowers, telling Plummer that his willful flight to Washington state was evidence he committed the crime.

Plummer, 33, has been charged with one felony count of first-degree murder. Flowers, 36, was found in her West Ridge apartment in the 6900 block of North Bell Avenue on Feb. 6 with a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She died at the scene.

Prosecutors argued Plummer was both a danger to the community and a flight risk, and the judge agreed, pointing to his departure for Washington immediately after Flowers was killed.

Plummer had been dating Flowers, prosecutors said, and did not attend her vigil or her funeral. Instead, they said, he went to Washington, where he obtained a new ID under the name Dajuan Jackson and a new cellphone.

"What normal person does that, you know? That's admission of guilt in my opinion, the way I think of it," said Flowers' uncle, Dantreon Clark.

Prosecutors said Flowers had multiple documented incidents of domestic violence involving Plummer. On Feb. 5, they said, she texted a family member that she was planning to leave him. Five minutes later, at 7:30 p.m., a neighbor heard 16 gunshots, then "a female voice crying and yelling for help" and the sound of someone struggling to breathe, according to prosecutors.

Someone called 911 and officers responded, prosecutors said, but they got no answer at the door and left.

She was a senior administrative assistant at OEMC, and it was a deputy director there who called police for a well-being check after she didn't show up to work the next day. Officers found the apartment door slightly open and Flowers dead inside, prosecutors said.

Flowers was shot 16 times, prosecutors said, and every round in the gun had been fired. They said Plummer's DNA was found on the gun, which was recovered with clothing that also held his work ID, inside the apartment he shared with her.

Plummer has multiple felony convictions and an order of protection against him from a former girlfriend, prosecutors said. While he was in Washington, they said, a new girlfriend called police after he threatened to hit her at a water park. He gave officers the name Dajuan Jackson.

A nationwide warrant was issued for Plummer at the end of August. Records show he was arrested in Snohomish County, Washington, on Sept. 1 and held in jail there while awaiting extradition to Chicago. Chicago police said they took him into custody at O'Hare International Airport Tuesday.

"That's one thing about the law, you can't run from the law, because the law's arm is real long and they will reach out and grab you, wherever you're at," Clark said.

A public defender representing Plummer told the judge no one witnessed the shooting and asked that he be released on electronic monitoring. The judge responded that "electronic monitoring is not sufficient in this case."

Flowers' mother was killed less than five months later. Her family said Surbezz Clark was an innocent bystander when four people opened fire outside a gas station at 76th and Halsted streets in Auburn Gresham on July 2. No one has been charged in that shooting.

"It's been a lot on our family, you know, losing two family members in a five month period of time, so we're trying to get justice for both of them," Dantreon Clark said.

Flowers is one of two OEMC employees killed in shootings this year. On Sept. 11, 911 dispatcher Natalia Rodriguez was shot and killed while driving in the 4500 block of South Wood Street in Back of the Yards. Ald. Ray Lopez, who represents the ward, said police were investigating that shooting as gang violence; Chicago police have not confirmed his account.