4 teenagers charged with fatal shooting of Chicago Police officer Aréanah Preston during ‘extremely violent crime’

Four teenagers have been charged with first-degree murder in the murder of Chicago police officer Aréanah Preston, who was shot dead during the group's alleged robbery.

Charges were filed against Joseph Brooks, 18, Jakwon Buchanan, 18, Trevell Breeland, 19, and Jaylan Frazier, 16, who were charged as adults.

The four were ordered to be held without bail by Judge David Kelly, who said prosecutors had presented “mountains of evidence” that the suspects had been “engaged in a very heinous crime.”

Preston was driving home from work Saturday morning in the 8100 South Blackstone Avenue block when the suspects passed him in a sedan, circled backwards and approached him as he stood in front of his home, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Private surveillance video shows the three suspects getting out of a car and running toward Preston, prosecutors said. Muzzle flashes could be seen from where the teenagers were standing and from where Preston was.

Brooks told detectives he shot Preston, who was still in uniform, when he saw him reach for his gun, according to prosecutors.

As the officer fell, the teens were seen running back to the sedan, but one of them turned back to Preston and grabbed his gun before rejoining the group, prosecutors said. His magazine for the gun was left behind.

Police later recovered nearly a dozen 9mm shell casings from the scene.

Preston was hit at least twice and was also hit by bullets. ShotSpotter, the city's shot detection system, detected the barrage of shots, but an officer did not respond to the block for more than 30 minutes.

Officers then drove him to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where Preston was pronounced dead.

The teenagers fled to a vacant lot in the 7200 South Eberhart block, where private surveillance video captured them walking north together through an alley to the back door of a house, prosecutors said. A distant video then shows the car on fire.

Later that afternoon, Frazier allegedly called a friend and discussed the murder.

“Frazier asked if he'd ever seen the news about a police officer being killed… Frazier said it was his job,” prosecutors said. Frazier “told him they were robbing people when they saw a single woman in his car. They were going to rob him but the woman shot them. One of the men who was with him shot back at the policeman and killed him.

The friend then went to the police with what Frazier had said and, during an interview with the detectives, called Frazier and put on speakerphone and allowed the detectives to listen in while they spoke.

During the call, Frazier made “additional confessions about the robbery and shooting including unreleased details”.

Frazier said he remained inside the Kia while three other suspects robbed and shot Preston, prosecutors said. They then set the Kia on fire using lighter fluid, Frazier told police.

Frazier's mother told the Sun-Times she attended a memorial for Preston Tuesday night after leaving the police station to turn in her son. “He doesn't deserve it. I am very, very sorry for what happened,” said Jaquanna Walker.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

‘Fallen Hero'

At a press conference to discuss the charges, Interim Police Supt. Eric Carter called Preston a “fallen hero” and asked Chicagoans to pray for him, his family, and the officers who responded to the shooting “as they process the trauma they have experienced.”

“She was a beloved daughter, sister and friend who wanted to make a difference in this world,” Carter told reporters. “Those who know him will tell you that's exactly what he did. He wants to help create a better future for Chicago, but the incomprehensible actions of four perpetrators take that future away from him, and the city's loss is tremendous.

“I ask everyone to continue praying for Aréanah's family as they navigate this world without her.

“While we know that this does not ease the pain, we hope that knowing those responsible for his murder have been arrested… brings some peace to them,” he added. “Even though Aréanah was not physically with us, her spirit of service and kindness will continue and we will never forget her.”

Calumet District Cmdr. Tyrone Pendarvis, Preston's boss, described him as a “star” who “made his presence known” by always greeting him. He notes that the last person Preston caught cried upon learning he had been killed.

“It shows credit for Officer Preston because he's in touch with everyone,” Pendarvis said. “He empathized with everyone's problems” regardless of whether they were arrested or not.

Pendarvis admits the charges “are not going to bring Aréanah back,” but he says they will help his loved ones “on their way to coping with this loss.”

Patrol Chief Brian McDermott declined to answer questions about the delay in the police response to Preston's shooting.

Although the city's shot detection system registered nine rounds in the area around the time of the shooting, it took more than 30 minutes for traffic officials to respond to an alert from Preston's Apple Watch and find him critically injured.

Police officials confirmed that Preston's gun was taken in the shooting and has not been found.

The shooting occurred at the end of the robbery

Prosecutors said Preston was killed at the end of a robbery that began when Buchanan was contacted by his girlfriend who told him “he needed money for a barbecue.”

Buchanan's girlfriend and another woman picked up Buchanan, Brooks, Breeland and Frazier shortly after midnight in her Dodge Avenger, prosecutors said. All four were allegedly wearing black clothes and covering their faces.

The two women later identified all of the suspects in the series of photos except for Frazier, who was only identified by one of the women, prosecutors said.

The group allegedly first robbed a 33-year-old woman shortly after midnight after she parked her near the block of 900 East 46th Street. The woman said she was approached by four men each armed with a long-shot pistol and they asked for her Louis Vuitton belt, before taking her cell phone and other items, including credit cards, prosecutors said.

The group then decided to steal a car and found a red Kia sedan in the 4700 South Indiana Avenue block, which they stole, leaving the two women in Dodge, prosecutors said.

The Kia was used by four suspects in a robbery shortly thereafter. They pulled over a 62-year-old woman who was standing in front of her house and talking to a 29-year-old woman on the 10,000 block of South Wallace Avenue, prosecutors said. The group pushed the two women to the ground and stole several items at gunpoint, including a Coach bag and cell phone, prosecutors said.

The teenagers then drove to the 9100 block of South Merrill, where a man had just parked his Tesla. He was surrounded by teenagers, who took Tesla's cell phone and keys, prosecutors said. They disposed of both shortly after retrieving them, prosecutors said.

The suspects immediately began following Preston's car, prosecutors said.

Cell phone records of at least one of the suspects placing his cell phone in the area of ​​the robbery that night, prosecutors said. Others in the group were identified by witnesses in separate series of photographs, prosecutors said.

The four teenagers had previously been convicted of robbery as teenagers.

Frazier's mother, Jaquanna Walker, said she had called her son and encouraged him to turn himself in after learning police were looking for him. “I just want to do the right thing,” Walker told Sun-Times Wednesday.

Frazier told him he was traumatized by the murder. “He told me, ‘Mom, I've never seen anyone die before.' He had just started to describe how he had seen someone on the ground, how it had happened so fast. He said it was out of control,” he said.

Walker said his son felt as if he was snitching on the others. “He said, ‘They are going to kill me.' He felt like he was telling everyone. But I said, No, the truth will set you free,” he said.

Walker said he was relieved to learn his son, who has a history of juvenile arrests, was not the shooter. “Even with his bad behavior, he's not a killer.”