A 20-year-old Chicago man charged in connection with the shooting of a Chicago police officer was ordered Thursday held without bond.
Paris Sadler, of the 8400 block of South Kingston Avenue, appeared for a bond hearing Thursday. He was charged Wednesday with attempted first-degree murder.
Officer Del Pearson, 47, was shot in the upper body at about 10:45 p.m. Monday while chasing a man, allegedly Sadler, in the 8400 block of South Kingston Avenue.
When Pearson pulled over in an unmarked police car, Sadler took off and ran down an alley, reaching into his waistband, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Peter O’Mara said in court Thursday.
Pearson yelled, "'Gun! Gun! He has a gun! Put down the gun,'" O’Mara told Judge Maria Kuriakos-Ciesel.
But Sadler ran onto the porch of a home where co-defendant Paris Fortune was with two women, O’Mara said. Sadler pleaded with Fortune to open the security door and reached through the bars of the door, but Fortune, who also had a loaded gun, did not open it, O’Mara said.
When Pearson arrived moments later, Sadler fired multiple shots at him with a .38-caliber revolver, hitting him in the shoulder and chest and piercing a main artery, O’Mara said.
Sadler ran a few yards to his home, stashed the gun in a hole in the wall behind a bathtub and ditched his clothes, O’Mara added.
When police searching the area for the shooter went to the home, his mother called him on his cell phone and told him to come up from the basement, where he’d been hiding, O’Mara said.
According to a police report, Sadler was sweating “profusely.” He told officers he’d been home on the phone with a girlfriend all evening, according to the report, but later gave a written statement admitting he’d shot Pearson, O’Mara said.
Police later recovered the gun and Sadler’s clothing.
They also recovered a 9 mm handgun from the attic in Fortune’s home, O’Mara said. Though that gun was not used in the attempted murder of Pearson, Fortune has prior felony convictions and was not allowed to own firearms.
Charged with unlawful use of a weapon, Fortune was ordered held on $125,000 bail by Judge Kuriakos-Ciesel.
Sadler, wearing a check shirt and jeans in court, shook his head repeatedly during the brief hearing. Fortune showed no emotion.
They were watched in court by members of Sadler’s family and at least a dozen Chicago police officers who were there in a show of solidarity with Pearson, who is recovering at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Police have said the shooting was gang-related, and police Supt. Garry McCarthy on Wednesday evening had a message for gang members:
"If it's a battle of wills, we're going to win. Put the guns down," he said.
Sadler has previously been charged with possession of LSD and possession of marijuana. He's beaten charges of criminal trespass, battery and two other cannabis cases, court records show.
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| Paris Fortune |
