Watch CBS News

No Bond For Suspect In Shooting Of Chicago Cop

Updated 03/22/12 - 5:48 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A judge has denied bond for a 20-year-old man charged with shooting and trying to kill a Chicago Police officer earlier this week in the South Chicago neighborhood.

Paris Sadler, of the 8400 block of South Kingston Avenue, was charged Wednesday night with attempted murder of a police officer, attempted murder with a firearm and aggravated battery with a firearm. Sadler is accused of shooting South Chicago District tactical officer Del Pearson in the chest during a chase a block away from Sadler's home on Monday.

CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports Sadler was denied bond at a hearing on Thursday.

Pearson, 47, survived the shooting despite being shot just above his protective vest and losing nearly two-thirds of his blood, and police said he owes his life to two of his quick-thinking colleagues.

Pearson was shot in the chest Monday night while chasing a suspect into an alley in the 8500 block of South Kingston Avenue.

"Officer Pearson was in grave danger of dying on Monday evening," police Supt. Garry McCarthy said. "In fact, the doctors told us that he had lost two-thirds of his blood in his body."

Pearson has been with the department for eight years. He and his partner were trying to stop and talk with four curfew violators in the 8500 block of South Kingston Avenue around 10:40 p.m. Monday, when one of them fled into an alley.

According to court documents, Sadler was walking with three other men when police pulled up to talk to them. The other three men with Sadler stopped and put up their hands, but Sadler grabbed his waistband and fled and Pearson chased him toward the corner of 85th and Kingston.

Pearson warned his fellow officers that Sadler had a gun and ordered Sadler to drop the weapon, but Sadler fled into an alley, according to court documents.

Sadler then ran into a vacant lot and onto the porch of a friend's house at 8430 S. Kingston Av. and tried to get inside. He shouted at his friend to let him in, and tried to reach around the security bars to open the door himself, but could not and his friend refused to let him in, court records state.

While Sadler was on the porch, Pearson caught up with him, and Sadler shot him twice, once in the shoulder and once in his protective vest. The bullet that struck him in the shoulder severed a main artery and lodged in his neck, near his spine.

Sadler then fled the scene as Pearson fired shots at him.

Prosecutors said after Sadler shot Pearson, he ran home and hid the .38-caliber handgun he had used in a hole in the wall behind a bathtub in his basement, then removed his clothes. But police quickly tracked him to his home and found both the gun and the shirt he was wearing when he allegedly shot Pearson.

Police also recovered a bullet from Pearson's protective vest.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Bob Roberts reports

Podcast

"We have significant evidence. We have significant ballistics evidence. We have significant statements, that all play into the charging of this particular individual," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Wednesday. "It's a very, very, very solid case."

Police said he has posted numerous Facebook photos and messages associating himself with the street gang known as the Every Body Killers.

On his Facebook profile, he goes by the name "Pistol P."

McCarthy had a message for Sadler's fellow gang members.

"For those guys, we're coming. That's what it boils down to: we're coming," McCarthy said. "And as far as the rest of them are concerned, the answer is real simple: put down the guns, because we're not going to tolerate this behavior."

CBS 2's Susanna Song reports in announcing the charges, McCarthy also thanked the quick thinking of two fellow tactical officers for saving Pearson's life.

Chicago Police Officer Del Pearson
Chicago Police Officer Del Pearson was critically injured when he was shot in the chest while chasing a suspect in the South Chicago neighborhood on March 19, 2012. (Credit: Chicago Police)

The officers didn't wait for an ambulance. Instead, they put him in their squad car and raced him to a hospital themselves.

"He looked very pale, and he was covered in wet blood. And I immediately said there is no way he can wait for an ambulance," said Officer Christopher Kapa, who was driving the squad car. "So I said, 'Officer Lund, help me get him in the back seat,' we pulled him into the back seat of my unmarked squad, and took off for the hospital."

Officer Kirsten Lund was in the back seat with Pearson, trying to keep him awake and conscious, and letting him know what was happening.

Pearson survived a seven-hour surgery at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. But police said his prognosis was good and he was interacting with his family at the hospital on Wednesday, and was reportedly joking with colleagues.

Although the bullet had lodged near his spine, sources said Pearson was able to move all his extremities and was responding to his family's voices.

McCarthy was with Pearson's family Wednesday night, and said they couldn't be happier that he is doing well, and that the alleged shooter has been charged.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.