COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The man accused of shooting a Chicago Police officer in her kneecap Friday was on parole for a 2014 gun conviction — and free on electronic monitoring for a pending federal drug case when he opened fire on a crowded South Side street, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Dante Jeffries, 27, was denied bail Tuesday on allegations he fired multiple rounds at two officers about 1:30 p.m. Friday — striking one in her kneecap and shattering the bone.
The officer survived, but is "in extreme pain" with no mobility, Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Bagby said during a bond hearing Tuesday at Leighton Criminal Courthouse, 2650 S. California Ave. The officer will need multiple surgeries to heal properly.
According to authorities, Jeffries on Friday was free on electronic monitoring for a pending federal drug case. He was recently paroled for a 2014 gun conviction and has prior convictions for domestic battery and possession of a controlled substance.
If convicted in Friday's shooting, he could face life in prison.
"This defendant is not only a danger to the public at large ... but to anybody he encounters," Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas said Tuesday before denying Jeffries bail on charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm and striking a police officer, armed robbery, aggravated assault of a police officer and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
Two accused accomplices, 20-year-old Donzell Grant and 24-year-old Cortez Harrington, appeared Monday in bond court, where they were denied bail on similar charges.
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According to prosecutors, Grant and Jeffries entered a T-Mobile store at 4309 S. Ashland Ave. about 1:25 p.m. Friday. Four employees and one customer were on the sales floor, prosecutors said, while a fifth employee ate lunch in the back.
Grant and Jeffries soon pointed guns at the four sales-floor employees and forced them into the back of the building, Bagby said.
Both the employee who'd been eating lunch and the customer in the front of the store were able to escape and call 911, prosecutors said. Grant and Jeffries are accused of tying up the remaining four employees with zip ties and demanding the code to T-Mobile's safe while threatening to kill the employees.
Once the safe was open, court records show, the duo swiped 40 phones worth more than $30,000.
A Chicago Police squad car arrived on scene just as Grant and Jeffries tried to leave, prosecutors said. The men made a beeline for the shop's back entrance and were soon spotted running west across Ashland Avenue, Bagby said. Two police officers chased them.
At that point, according to prosecutors, Grant and Jeffries pointed their guns toward the officers. Jeffries fired multiple rounds, Bagby said, shooting one of the officers in her kneecap. Her partner continued to chase the men into a nearby alley.
That's when Grant and Jeffries met up with Harrington, who was waiting in his black Dodge Charger, prosecutors said. Grant and Jeffries jumped into the car, which sped off before stopping abruptly, according to Bagby.
Grant and Jeffries got out of the car, split up and ran down two separate gangways, authorities said. The uninjured police officer continued to chase Grant, who briefly got stuck on a fence when his shorts tore.
Before long, the officer spotted Jeffries behind the wheel of a white van he had stolen seconds earlier from a 43-year-old man working in the alley, prosecutors said. Grant tried to get in the van but ultimately hid in a nearby garage that belonged to the van's owner, Bagby noted.
Jeffries is accused of firing additional shots at the uninjured officer during the chase.
Grant and Harrington were arrested near the T-Mobile shop on Friday afternoon, court records show. Jeffries escaped in the white van, but was arrested about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, police said.
The T-Mobile robbery was captured on security cameras, according to prosecutors. Grant, Harrington and Jeffries were also spotted on Home Depot surveillance footage buying zip ties shortly before the robbery.
Jeffries, of the 500 block of North Desplaines Street, was identified by multiple witnesses as one of the T-Mobile robbers and the man who shot at police, authorities said.
During their investigation, detectives were able to link Jeffries to a similar robbery that occurred July 4 at the T-Mobile store at 1600 W. 13th St. In that case, Jeffries and an accomplice (who has not yet been identified) forced two employees into a back room at gunpoint, restrained them with zip ties, and then stole 35 cellphones and $300 cash before fleeing, prosecutors said.
Jeffries now faces an additional armed-robbery charge for the July 4 case.
