CPD officer shot ‘right in the heart area' of vest, prosecutors say
Deangela Eaton | Cook County sheriff's office
CHICAGO (SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - A 25-year-old woman who shot a Chicago Police officer “in the heart area” of his bulletproof vest had warned the officer and his partner they “did not want to mess with her” moments before she opened fire, prosecutors said at a hearing for Deangela Eaton on Tuesday.
The two officers were wearing plainclothes — with bulletproof vests — and in unmarked SUV around 2:30 p.m. May 12 when they spotted Eaton making what appeared to be a drug deal in the 4600 block of West Maypole in West Garfield Park. The officers circled the block, and again saw Eaton with another man in what looked like a hand-to-hand drug deal, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
The officer in the passenger seat climbed out of the SUV and called out to Eaton, who was walking away. Eaton said “she was not going to speak with him, and they didn’t want to mess with her,” Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Carlson said.
The officer chased Eaton as she ran, clutching a pistol on her left side; the second officer drove alongside them in the SUV. When the first officer got within five feet of Eaton, he said she reached for the pistol and he heard the click of her cocking the gun, Carlson said.
“(Eaton), as she was running from the officer, reached back with her right hand holding a gun, pointed it directly at the (the officer) and fired the gun directly at him, striking him in the bulletproof vest, right in the heart area,” Carlson said.
The officer pulled his gun and fired at Eaton, as did his partner from inside the SUV, Carlson said. The officers continued firing until Eaton fell to the ground. Police said Eaton was shot in the leg, shoulder and abdomen, and required surgery at Stroger Hospital.
The officers found the gun more than 25 feet from where Eaton collapsed, a 9 mm Ruger with four rounds and a shell casing jammed in the chamber, Carlson said.
The officer who chased Eaton on foot noticed a hole burned in his vest, and that the bullet appeared to have struck a flashlight secured in the vest first.
Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Eaton, who had not yet appeared in court because she was hospitalized, held without bail on two counts of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer.