The alleged getaweay driver in a suburban bank robbery that sparked a dramatic chase that ended in a deadly police shootout in Chicago now faces federal charges, authorities said Friday.
A criminal complaint accuses 32-year-old Maurice Murphy of bank robbery in connection with a holdup at a Bank of America at 1300 E. Oakton St. in Des Plaines.
Murphy was arrested running from police after the robbery but was not involved in the chase and gun battle that followed the heist, leaving an officer injured and a music school intern shot on the city's Northwest Side. A second suspect in the bank robbery, Christopher Terrell Willis, was killed in that shootout.
According to the criminal complaint, Murphy acted as the getaway driver while Willis robbed the bank.
Willis and Murphy parted ways and Willis evaded capture before stealing a couple’s car and driving into the city of Chicago, authorities said at a press conference Tuesday night.
The FBI along with Chicago and Des Plaines police tracked Willis' whereabouts and officers waited for the suspect to exit the Kennedy Expressway at Irving Park Road.
Authorities said when the suspect realized he was being followed, he began firing at police vehicles, hitting one of the officers in the temple of his head. The 46-year-old officer, a 17-year veteran of the force, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he was listed in "serious but stable" condition, officials said.
The police pursuit continued before ending at the music school located in the 4200 block of Irving Park Road in the city's Old Irving Park neighborhood, Johnson said.
“The offender and the Des Plaines police officer then exchanged gunfire,” Johnson said. “The 32-year-old offender was fatally shot in the exchange.”
He was identified as Willis by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
A 15-year-old bystander, who was at the music school at the time, was shot in the arm and in the abdomen and taken to an area children’s hospital, according to police.
The FBI is currently investigating the bank robbery, while Des Plaines police are investigating the carjacking and the Chicago Police Department continues to investigate the shooting, officials said.
