CHICAGO _ A four-time felon was charged Wednesday afternoon with first-degree murder and armed violence in connection with the slaying of Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer on Tuesday.
Shomari Legghette has a criminal history stretching back more than two decades, court records show. He picked up new charges while out on bond, on parole and serving probation, making him the kind of repeat offender Bauer had urged authorities to keep off the street.
At a news conference at police headquarters, Area Central Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan told reporters that Legghette fired seven shots, using a gun with an extended magazine.
"This department didn't just lose an exemplary police officer. The city lost of piece of itself," Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters.
Police officials said Bauer, the highest ranking officer killed in decades, had a cousin, Officer Martin Darcy Sr., fatally shot in the line of duty in 1982.
Authorities described a hectic scene that ended with the fatal confrontation in a freezing outdoor stairwell, just outside the Thompson Center administrative building and a stone's throw from City Hall.
The mayhem began when officers working a drug mission on Lower Wacker Drive tried to approach Legghette for an interview, Deenihan said.
As soon as the officers left their car, he took off, Deenihan said, running from Lower Wacker Drive to street level as an officer yelled after him: "I just want to talk to you."
He ran to the corner of State and Clark streets, where Bauer's car was parked, Deenihan said. Bauer, who had been listening in on his police radio, gave chase _ a pursuit caught on video from a nearby taxicab, Deenihan said.
"You can hear Cmdr. Bauer on his radio stated that the individual is running toward the State of Illinois Building (Thompson Center) and toward City Hall," said Deenihan.
Video then captured Bauer and Legghette struggling at the top of a stairwell near the Thompson Center. Legghette pulled at Bauer, and the two tumbled down the steps. Moments later, witnesses heard seven gunshots, Deenihan said.
Bauer, who was on duty and in full uniform, apparently never drew his own weapon, Deenihan said.
Officers from the attorney general's office and Illinois State Police were the first on the scene, he said, followed by a Chicago police officer in civilian clothes.
They came to the stairwell with their guns drawn, ordered Legghette to come out, then placed him under arrest, Deenihan said.
Legghette, wearing body armor under a black coat, had heroin, marijuana and crack cocaine on him in addition to the gun, according to police. He did not make any statements to police, Deenihan said.
Deenihan described a nearby taxi driver as "an excellent witness," noting that the cab's camera caught video of Bauer chasing Legghette as well as audio of the gunshots.
The driver even pulled over, got out of his car and recorded more video on his cellphone, including footage of police recovering the gun from Legghette and the moment the officer realized Legghette was wearing body armor.
Bauer had been in the area after attending "active shooter" training, which prepares officers for mass shootings. He also had a meeting with aldermen scheduled for later in the day.
The married father of a 13-year-old daughter is the first Chicago cop fatally shot since 2011.
Legghette, 44, of Chicago, is expected to appear in court Thursday.
His first Cook County conviction came in 1997 when he pleaded guilty to drug possession and was sentenced to a year of probation. While serving that probation, he was charged with armed robbery and was ultimately found guilty and sentenced in 1999 to 16 years in prison.
This isn't the first time Legghette has been arrested by Chicago police while allegedly in possession of body armor. While on parole in November 2007, Legghette was spotted by officers driving the wrong way down a one-way street near 66th Street and Stony Island Avenue, according to police. The officers then recovered a .44-caliber handgun, some heroin and a bulletproof vest, police said.
He was arrested for a slew of offenses: unlawful use of a weapon and body armor by a felon, possession of a gun with a defaced serial number and a heroin charge. He pleaded guilty to the gun charge and was sentenced to three years in prison.
While out on bond in that case, he was again arrested and charged with drug possession in a case that was ultimately dropped.
In 2011 he was charged with resisting an officer and battery, records show. He was found guilty on one of the two battery counts and was sentenced to probation.
His most recent conviction was similar to his first: He pleaded guilty in 2015 to drug possession and was given two years in prison. He was discharged from parole in August 2016, according to an Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman.
A relative who asked that his name not be used said Legghette grew up in Chicago and played basketball at Dunbar High School. He said he was a funny guy around his family, liked writing rap music and has two daughters.
"I have never known him to carry a firearm, let alone bulletproof armor," he said.
Johnson noted Legghette's extensive criminal history, calling the shooting "a devastating reminder" that repeat gun offenders are out on the streets.
"Police officers take a lot of knocks," he said at the news conference, flanked by several members of his command staff and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "If Paul's actions yesterday remind us of anything, they should remind us that police officers are the good guys, and Paul was one of the best of the good guys."
After ascending the department ranks, Bauer assumed leadership in 2016 of the Near North District, just north of where he was shot. In that role, he publicly vented frustration about the difficulty of clearing repeat offenders from the street _ a common refrain among Chicago police and political officials who confront a stubborn violent crime rate driven in part by recidivism.
"We're not talking about the guy who stole a loaf of bread from the store to feed his family," he said in November, according to the Loop North News. "We're talking about career robbers, burglars, drug dealers. These are all crimes against the community. They need to be off the street."
The charges came down as an impromptu memorial grew Wednesday outside the Thompson Center. Passers-by paused there to offer flowers, snap photos _ one person made the sign of the cross _ as they reflected on the death of the 31-year veteran of the force and violence that erupted in broad daylight in the heart of downtown.
Gilberto Robles, 27, of Chicago's Ashburn neighborhood, works nearby and was caught up in the shooting's aftermath Tuesday afternoon as he made a trip to the Daley Center, just across the street.
"It is upsetting to find out it is an officer, someone that's trying to help keep the peace," Robles said. "But, you know, it just adds another body count to the city."
Inside the Thompson Center's basement food court, Willard O'Brien, 67, of the Canaryville neighborhood, was finishing his breakfast and said he also thought that the shooting highlighted the city's numbness to violence.
"We are not surprised these things happen all the time," O'Brien said. "It saddens us but doesn't surprise us."
Greg Zanis, of Crosses for Losses, left a wooden cross adorned with a blue heart, the officer's name and a laminated photo outside the Thompson Center.
