Third Man Charged With Shooting CPD Officer, Robbing T-Mobile Store
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A third man has been charged in connection with the shooting of a Chicago Police officer and armed robbery of a T-Mobile store Friday afternoon.
Dante Jeffries, 27, faces seven felony charges after he was arrested just after 10:30 p.m. on Saturday in the 600 block of West Hubbard, according to Chicago Police.
Jeffries and two other men, 20-year-old Donzell Grant and 24-year-old Cortez Harrington, were in the group that allegedly shot the officer in the left leg near 43rd Street and Ashland in a chase that followed the robbery, police said.
On Monday, Grant and Harrington were ordered held without bond at Cook County Jail, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. During their bond hearing, Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Jennifer Bagby said Grant and another suspect entered the business about 1:30 p.m. and marched four employees to the back of the store at gunpoint, bound them with zip-ties and demanded the combination to a store safe.
Harrington, the getaway driver, waited in a nearby alley, behind the wheel of a Dodge Charger, Bagby said.
After the two armed men burst in, a female customer managed to run out and call police. A store employee who was eating lunch also slipped out a back door and called 911, Bagby said. After the gunmen demanded the combination to a store safe, they emptied out a stash of iPhones inside.
As the armed pair headed for the front door with the phones in a sack, they saw two 9th District officers arriving in a marked squad car, Bagby said.
The two men ran out the back, then circled from the alley to the front of the strip mall. As they sprinted across Ashland, the two officers gave chase on foot. Both men turned and pointed their guns at the officers, and police believe the unnamed gunman fired and struck one of the officers in the left knee. The female officer, who has been on the force for two years, fired twice at the fleeing men, and her male partner continued to give chase as they ran south on Marshfield.
The two gunmen reached Harrington's car and climbed in, then apparently thought better of it, jumping out and sprinting away down a gangway, again stopping to fire at the pursuing officer, Bagby said. The two split up, with the officer still tailing Grant as Grant sprinted down a gangway and climbed a fence, snagging his pants.
Meanwhile, the other gunman ran down an alley and stole a minivan at gunpoint. The officer, unable to scale the fence, ran down another gangway and spotted the van as it pulled forward, then backed into Grant and pinned him against the door of a garage. As the minivan pulled away, the driver fired at the officer, who recognized that gunman behind the wheel, Bagby said. Grant crawled into the garage, where he was arrested by late-arriving officers.
Harrington was arrested later by police, who found his Charger parked in front of a fire hydrant a few blocks away on Marshfield, after a woman who said she'd almost been run over by the car flagged down officers. Harrington approached officers at his car, and admitted the car was his, Bagby said.
Beside the female officer, no one else was injured in the incident, authorities said. She was treated for her injuries at Stroger Hospital and released Friday night.
Jeffries, who lives on the Near West Side, faces the following felony charges:
• Two counts of attempted first-degree murder;
• Two counts of armed robbery;
• Aggravated battery;
• Aggravated discharge of a firearm;
• Aggravated vehicular hijacking; and
• Kidnapping while armed with a firearm.
He was scheduled to appear in bond court Tuesday.
Grant, who lives in the West Englewood neighborhood, and Harrington, of the Park Manor neighborhood, also face seven felony charges:
• Two counts of attempted first-degree murder;
• Armed robbery;
• Aggravated battery;
• Aggravated discharge of a firearm;
• Armed kidnapping; and
• Aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
