Page 43 - February 2021

Catching the Halloween shooter
n BY DAN CAMPANA
The Halloween 2019 wounding of 7-year-old Gisselle Zamago as she trick- or-treated left many across the city in disbelief. But the dedicated work of four Chicago Police Officers and their sergeant quickly led to the capture of the alleged gunman.
In January, the Chicago Police Me- morial Foundation honored officers Ar- tavious Mitchell, Shawn Bryant, Adam Burns and Malcolm Brogsdale, as well as Sergeant Patrick Jaycox, with its Offi- cers of the Month Award.
The incident started around 5:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of South Lawn- dale when officers responded to a call of two people being shot — a 31-year- old man, who was struck in the hand, and Zamago, still dressed in her Min- nie Mouse costume, who was hit in her neck and chest by stray bullets. She was transported to Stroger Hospital in crit- ical condition and spent two weeks re- covering from her injuries.
The quartet of officers from the Area Central Gang Enforcement Unit took on a post-shooting mission to the area, which was known to have an ongoing conflict between the Latin Kings and 2-6 gangs. After Jaycox obtained in- formation from a Facebook video that showed several people running from the scene of the shooting, the officers used still photos from the recording to locate three juveniles who matched the description of individuals in the video.
Officials said the three juveniles had been reported missing, leading them to be placed in protective custody and transported to the 10th District. A fur- ther review of the video revealed one of the juveniles to have a strong resem-
blance to those seen running from the shooting. The juvenile confirmed to police that he was indeed in the video and identified himself as a 2-6 gang member. During questioning, he told investigators that one of the other juve- niles in protective custody was the trig- german in the incident that left Zama- go injured.
The juvenile went on to explain that the alleged shooter had hidden a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol un- der a garbage can in an alley near 26th and Ridgeway and then had run to a fel- low gang member’s house. While there, he acknowledged opening fire and hit- ting a Latin King, then stashing the gun. He then asked to hide the red jacket he wore when the shooting occurred.
Officers took the juvenile who shared those details to the alley, where the gun
was found. They also obtained video from a nearby business that showed the alleged shooter in a red jacket running southbound into the alley. After obtain- ing a search warrant, officers recovered the jacket at the 2-6 gang member’s home.
Based on all the information the of- ficers quickly gathered, prosecutors charged the suspected shooter as a juvenile with two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.
“Thanks to the outstanding fol- low-up investigation (by) these officers, a dangerous and reckless street gang member was arrested and charged with shooting two people,” CPMF Director of Operations Joe Salemme said. “It is an honor to name these officers our January officers of the month.”
10th District members go above and beyond to find suspect who wounded 7-year-old girl
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