CHICAGO _ The man whose shooting by police in Englewood on Sunday allegedly sparked looting in downtown Chicago was ordered held on a $1 million bond Tuesday.
Latrell Allen allegedly shot at police officers, who returned fire, wounding him, touching off a series of events that ended in chaos in some of the city's top shopping districts, authorities have said. He was being pursued because he matched a 911 caller's description of a man with a gun trying to start a fight at a park full of children, Cook County prosecutors alleged Tuesday.
Latrell Allen took off running when police responded, then fired eight shots at the pursuing officers, according to prosecutors.
Allen's defense attorney immediately cast doubt on prosecutors' story, noting in court that none of the officers had body-worn cameras and that Allen's hands were evidently never swabbed for evidence of gunshot residue.
Police have acknowledged the officers involved in the incident were from a new unit that had not yet been assigned body cameras, so the shooting itself was not captured on video.
But Judge Susana Ortiz noted that it was "a very dangerous situation," given that Allen apparently had a loaded gun near a park in a residential area. She ordered Allen, who is hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds, held on a $1 million bond.
False claims about the shooting, including one that said police shot a 15-year-old, allegedly gave rise to a heated scuffle at the scene Sunday afternoon and then fueled social-media messages urging people to head downtown. Widespread looting followed, police have said, despite their attempts to deploy hundreds of officers to stop it.
Allen, 20, pleaded guilty last year to breaking into a car in suburban Evergreen Park and was sentenced to probation, records show. He also faces a pending misdemeanor reckless conduct and child endangerment case from earlier this year, according to court records.
In that case, Allen allegedly posted a message on Facebook saying he would shoot his 1-year-old child if he didn't get some money, then took off running, with the baby in tow, as the police responded. He jumped over a fence and through an alley, at one point leaving the crying baby behind on the ground, according to a police report.
