An 18-year-old man is expected to appear in bond court on Friday after being charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a Chicago police officer in Gage Park late on Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities announced on Thursday that 18-year-old Steven Montano, of the 2500 block of South Lawndale Avenue, had been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon without a FOID card, and aggravated discharge of a firearm near a school building.
The suspect is also being charged with two misdemeanors, officials said: simple assault and interfering with the reporting of domestic violence.
The wounded policeman fired back and hit Montano in the head. Officials say they are unsure if Montano will make an in-person appearance on Friday because he is still in critical condition at the hospital.
We are heartbroken,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said at a press conference on Wednesday. “The police force is like a big, close-knit clan. Eventually, everyone is prepared to give their lives for something they believe in. You hope and wish for it all the time, but it never comes true. And this tragedy did it tonight.”
Officials have stated that they are currently reviewing footage from responding officers’ body cameras as part of an ongoing investigation.
Every Time I Saw Him, He Had A Grin On His Face
There was a wife and a young child in Vasquez-life. Lasso’s Sara Montemayor, the family’s next-door neighbor, said that they had moved into their Marquette Park home not even a year prior.
They were out walking their dog the day before I saw them. I know grandma comes over frequently to help out with the daughter,” Montemayor, 34, said. The loss of a neighbor is especially painful.
Only two and a half miles separated the assailant and Vasquez’s house. Lasso’s In the early hours of Thursday, four officers from the Chicago Lawn Police District brought flowers to the scene of the shooting.
Also Read:
“We’re out here to pay our respects to our brother in blue,” said one of the officers, who declined to give her name. She explained that she and the other four women only knew Vasquez-Lasso from a distance because they worked earlier than he did, but that they could tell he was a star in the making.
Anatomy 0f A Suspect
The bail hearing for Montano is set for this coming Friday. The only thing we know about him from the police is that he was arrested once before.
According to the records, he was caught last summer near two handguns after fleeing a stolen car that was wanted in connection with a shooting.
A misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing a peace officer was filed against him at the time, but it was eventually dropped. However, the arrest report does not elaborate on why prosecutors declined to file felony charges. Police say they have arrested a teenage boy and a man on gun charges in connection with the incident.
According to the report, the victim and witnesses saw three people inside the Accord, and the driver was wearing a mask as he drove away. Later that night, police tried to pull over a car near 26th and Whipple streets, but the driver sped away, sending officers and state troopers in hot pursuit.
Also Read:
The report claims that when the Accord was pulled over in the 7400 block of South Parnell Avenue, Montano, and the other two suspects fled the scene on foot. Montano was apprehended after being located hiding in the ground beneath a porch in a backyard on the same block.
Two loaded handguns were found nearby “in the direct path of the offenders [sic] from the vehicle,” according to the report, which identified Montano as a member of the Latin Kings street gang.
According to the sources, a helicopter flew overhead during the arrests, but the footage did not show Montano with any weapons. Rodrigo Ramirez, one of the other defendants, was seen tossing firearms to the ground.
Where And When Did The Police Officer Get Shot?
Authorities report that at 4:43 p.m. on Wednesday, officers from the Eighth District responded to a domestic-related call of a person with a gun in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood of Chicago.
As Brown explained later, the caller claimed a man was brandishing a firearm and chasing a woman down the street.
One group of officers went to the front door of a house when they arrived, but another squad car reportedly saw the suspect walking away. Police say the armed suspect took off running as they exited their vehicle.
“Shots were exchanged at close range,” Brown said. Authorities say the officer sustained multiple blows. Brown claimed that the officer fired back, striking the suspect in the head. The man was then rushed to an emergency room at a local hospital. Brown claims that the police officer was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital but was later pronounced dead there.
Body cam footage, ballistic evidence, and other videos are currently being reviewed, Brown said, so the investigation is ongoing. Brown also noted that the incident’s use of force was being investigated by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Conclusion
WLS-TV in CHICAGO As the judge announced that Steven Montano, the 18-year-old accused of shooting and killing Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso, would be held without bail on Friday, a flood of uniformed Chicago police officers descended on the Cook County Courthouse.