Mayor Richard Daley on Tuesday said that if convicted, the man accused of gunning down a Chicago police officer and a retired Chicago Housing Authority officer should be put to death.
"I believe in the death penalty. I’ll be very frank. I know there’s been abuses in the past. Yes, there are. But under our system, we should really protect life. In situations like this -- this should be a death penalty case," said Daley, a former state's attorney.
Officer Michael Flisk and another man, Stephen Peters, were killed Friday while Flisk, an evidence technician, worked a burglary scene inside Peters' garage.
On Tuesday, a 19-year-old parolee, Timothy Herring, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
"He shot them once and then noticed that Mr. Peters was still moving and went back up and shot Mr. Peters again and shot Officer Flisk," said Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez following Herring's appearance in bond court.
In the midst of that horror, there was a glimmer of hope. Cases like these are often marked with stony silence from the neighborhood, but police Supt. Jody Weis said that wasn't the case this time.
"The information from the community really led us to [Herring]. They gave us really detailed information which allowed our detectives, who just did a tremendous job [to make an arrest]," he said.
Herring was also charged with one count each of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in connection with a previous shooting. He'd previously been convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to six years in prison but was most recently released on parole Sept. 14.
"If you use a weapon, it should be a mandatory sentence. It’s insane that people are getting out early after they try to kill someone," said Supt. Jody Weis.
Illinois currently has a moratorium on the death penalty, but an Illinois House committee on Tuesday narrowly recommended abolishing it altogether.
Former Gov. George Ryan suspended executions in 2000 because 13 condemned men were later exonerated or evidence against them was ruled improper. No one has been executed in Illinois since then.
