March 23--After a quick chase down an alley and through a vacant lot, Chicago Police Officer Del Pearson finally had the 20-year-old suspect cornered on a front porch.
As Pearson approached the house in the South Chicago neighborhood Monday night, Paris Sadler pointed a gun at him and fired at least twice, prosecutors say. The tactical officer was hit in the shoulder and in his bullet-proof vest and fell to the ground.
Holding his shoulder, Pearson shot back at Sadler, who fired at the officer again and missed, prosecutors say. Pearson kept shooting as Sadler jumped off the porch and ran toward his basement apartment nearby where he stashed the gun behind a bathtub and changed his clothes, according to prosecutors.
Witnesses helped police track down the alleged gang member, and today a judge ordered him held without bail on attempted murder of a police officer and other charges, calling him "a danger to himself and society."
The bullet pierced a main artery in Pearson's upper shoulder and he underwent hours of surgery at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn to stop the bleeding, officials say. The bullet remains lodged in his neck, near his spine.
Also today, Superintendent Garry McCarthy went to the hospital to visit Pearson, who had his wife, two children and other family members at his side. He said Pearson is in pain but is able to speak and even walk a little bit.
After seeing Pearson Monday night, McCarthy said he wasn't sure the officer would survive.
"The fact that he is where is, it's great," McCarthy said.
The other bullet was retrieved from Pearson's vest and matched a .38-caliber revolver found in a hole in the wall behind the bathtub, police said.
The shoot-out began at about 10:45 p.m. Monday when Pearson and his partner pulled up in their unmarked SUV to four people causing some sort of a "juvenile disturbance" near 85th Street and Kingston Avenue, authorities said.
Sadler ran from the group, clutching his waistband, prompting Pearson to jump from the squad car and run after him, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Peter O'Mara.
Once he spotted a gun on Sadler, Pearson shouted at him and ordered him to drop it, O'Mara said. "Gun. Gun. He has a gun. Put down the gun," Pearson yelled, according to O'Mara. But Sadler kept running through an alley.
Sadler, still trying to shake off Pearson, ran up to a porch at the home of a neighbor, 30-year-old Paris Fortune, and started knocking on his front door, O'Mara said.
"As (Sadler) banged on the door, he yelled, 'Bro, bro, let me in!' " O'Mara said in court.
Fortune saw Sadler sticking his arm through the bars of one of the doors as well as a flashlight shining outside, O'Mara said, and refused to let him in. When Pearson caught up to Sadler, the 20-year-old pointed his .38-caliber revolver at Pearson, shot him fired, then fled, O'Mara said.
Chicago police officers on the scene had a physical description of the shooter, and learned that Sadler had run to the basement of his home a few doors away, O'Mara said. When the officers went to the house, Sadler's mother called his cell phone and told him to come upstairs because the police were there, O'Mara said.
Wearing only a pair of shorts and sweating profusely, Sadler told the officers once they arrived that he was talking on the phone with his girlfriend, according his arrest report. His mother then allowed the officers to search the house, and they discovered a revolver in the inner wall of the basement tub, the report stated.
The Illinois State Police Forensic Laboratory examined the bullet recovered from Pearson's vest and determined it was shot from that revolver, O'Mara said. He said Sadler also gave a handwritten statement admitting to shooting the officer.
On his Facebook page, Sadler makes a reference to apparently being part of "EBK," which means "Every Body Killers"--a group of gang members aligned with one another, but still come from many other different gangs, law enforcement sources said. However, his arrest report stated that he's affiliated with the Black P. Stones street gang.
Police also arrested Fortune, a convicted felon, when a search warrant at his home revealed that he had a 9mm handgun, O'Mara said. He was charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesel set his bail Thursday at $125,000
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