Chicago man sentenced after pleading guilty to shooting federal agents during covert operation

CHICAGO - A Chicago man who pleaded guilty to shooting two federal agents and an ATF officer in 2021 has been sentenced. 

Eugene McLaurin, 31, will spend 27 years behind bars for the crime, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday. 

In the morning hours of July 7, 2021, two agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a task force officer were conducting a covert investigation and driving in an unmarked vehicle when Eugene McLaurin pulled alongside them and fired several shots. The incident took place at the on-ramp to I-57 from Ashland Avenue.

McLaurin had been following the unmarked vehicle thinking the officers were opposing gang members, authorities said. The two agents and the officer were seriously wounded in the shooting.

In an attempt to hide his involvement in the crime, McLaurin ditched the handgun in a sewer drain and hid the key to his vehicle in the basement of his home.

McLaurin pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting a federal officer and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces life in prison.

He'll be sentenced on March 13, 2024.