Suspect detained in murder of Chicago Officer Luis Huesca

CHICAGO — For nearly an hour Friday prosecutors laid out allegations against the man accused in the murder of Chicago Police Department Officer Luis Huesca.

Xavier L. Tate, 22, remains behind bars after Cook County judge Mary Cay Marubio ordered him held pending trial.

More than 100 law enforcement officers, including dozens of academy recruits, flooded the courthouse in support of their fallen brother and his family, who faced the man accused in his murder for the first time.

“There will be justice for my brother, and I want that justice to be done and put our family at least at peace,” said Emiliano Huesca, Jr.

Huesca, a six-year veteran of CPD, was shot multiple times and killed as he arrived home after finishing a work shift on the early morning hours of April 21st.

Prosecutors in court, and a detention proffer filed in Cook County, shared what allegedly led up to the shooting, what happened in the moments during it, and the hours and days to follow.

It was a combination, police said, of cooperation from community members, investigative work between local, state and federal agencies, and a trail of DNA, physical and electronic evidence that helped link Tate to the murder.

“We don’t just have video, he left pieces of himself behind at every turn,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers, in court.

Shortly before Tate’s detention hearing, CPD leadership, Mayor Brandon Johnson, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, and other investigators held a press conference at police headquarters to announce the official charges.

“The one thing I want to emphasize is, we know exactly where Tate was, when officer Huesca was murdered and that’s what we’re here today to announce,” said Antoinette Ursitti, Chief of Detectives.

According to police and prosecutors, Tate traveled to Wisconsin, Iowa, and Rockford before he was arrested Wednesday night at an apartment complex in Glendale Heights. It was the use of Huesca’s handcuffs while taking the suspect into custody, that Superintendent Larry Snelling said, solemnly honored him.

“Tate evaded police for more than a week as the Huesca family buried their beloved son, brother, uncle, and friend,” said Snelling.

Police said, dozens of videos provided by residents and businesses in the Gage Park community, played a crucial part in tracking Tate’s movements.

“After observing video of Tate in the area of the shooting, detectives traced his movements back to a business where he purchased a bottle of water using a relative’s bank card,” said Ursitti.

According to police, it was through that electronic benefits (EBT) card belonging to the suspect’s mother, that they were able to initially identify Tate. It is part of what they said helped start to establish a timeline, which eventually, revealed Tate’s movements back to as early as Friday afternoon.

Timeline of suspect’s alleged whereabouts

According to prosecutors, on Friday, April 19, approximately 36 hours before the murder, Tate’s cousin ordered him a rideshare from the 10800 block of South Hale Avenue to the cousin’s home in the 5500 block of South Morgan Street.

As Tate arrived, he was allegedly shown on surveillance video wearing what prosecutors described as a ‘distinguishing outfit,’ including a black Guess jacket, a dark gray hoody underneath, black Nike shoes with white and blue details, and carrying a black backpack and light gray jacket.

Prosecutors said Tate stayed with his cousin, who left his own home to go to a party Saturday afternoon. When he returned, Tate was allegedly gone.

In the hours leading up to the murder, prosecutors allege Tate was captured on a ‘multitude of surveillance videos,’ where he was observed walking in the 8th District, the one where Huesca was killed.

Around 9:55 p.m., prosecutors said Tate went into a convenience store in the 3000 block of West 63^rd Street to buy gum, also using his mother’s EBT card. In video from that store, he was allegedly wearing the same outfit he was in when he got to his cousin’s house.

The timeline investigators developed showed a person was caught on camera, wearing the same outfit, walking northbound in the 5800 block of South Sawyer Avenue around 30 minutes later. According to prosecutors, a resident was looking out her window and saw the male put a black bag down and begin changing his clothes.

Suspecting something was off, court documents showed the witness snapped a photo from behind of the man when he was done changing. Prosecutors claim Tate replaced his Nikes with distinguishing Burberry shoes, and put on a light gray pullover with yellow and green striping.

Less than two hours after, prosecutors alleged Tate was caught on multiple surveillance cameras walking around the area, and approaching a Walgreens in the 5400 block of South Kedzie Avenue. It was around 2:41 a.m. when Tate allegedly went back to the Walgreens and purchased a “Nice” brand bottled water using his mother’s EBT card, before he left the store and walked a few blocks toward the victim’s house.

New details in the deadly shooting

It was less than 10 minutes later, when prosecutors said surveillance video showed Tate walking toward Huesca’s home. When the officer drove past him and made a turn onto 56th Street before pulling into his driveway, the suspect allegedly followed him and approached him on the driver’s side.

“[Tate] fired 10 shots at the victim striking him in the head, chest, arms, and thighs,” read a detention proffer.

According to investigators, a neighbor heard the gunfire and looked out to see Huesca laying next to his vehicle. They reportedly saw a male suspect wearing a grey top and black pants standing at his feet.

“The neighbor then observed [Tate] get into the driver’s seat of the Toyota and flee the scene,” Rodgers wrote in the proffer.

According to court documents, the neighbor tentatively identified a filler, not the suspect, in a photo array.

It was a ShotSpotter alert that brought officers to the location. When they arrived, prosecutors said Huesca’s service weapon, a Glock 9mm handgun, was not on him.

After the shooting, investigators said they collected shell cases, and preliminary ballistics analysis revealed all shots were fired from one gun and it was not Huesca’s. According to prosecutors, the shell casings were collected, swabbed and analyzed for DNA, which later generated a hit.

Prosecutors said, Tate’s DNA was in CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System used by the FBI, due to a juvenile adjudication in a gun case.

After the shooting

Police also recovered Huesca’s SUV a short distance from the scene, prosecutors said, allegedly ditched just minutes after the crime. Tate was caught on camera driving toward the secluded alley where it was found abandoned, along with possible evidence, including hand sanitizer and a canister of disinfectant wipes found in and by the vehicle.

Around 2:58 a.m., Tate was allegedly caught on camera exiting the alley and walking toward the 5600 block of Mozart. It was there prosecutors said he changed his clothing, and rummaged through his backpack, leaving behind the “Nice” brand water bottle he purchased with the EBT card, in the spot he was captured bending down.

Prosecutors said police recovered the water bottle from the spot it was left, as well as clothing matching the description of the one captured on video, from a garbage can.

Moments later, Tate is accused of stealing a bike from a yard in the 5600 block of S. California. He reportedly tossed the bicycle over the rear fence and into the alley.

When Tate allegedly dropped the bike over the fence, prosecutors said he left behind a key piece of evidence, his palm print, which also matched via latent analysis.

He used that bicycle, prosecutors said, to drive toward his cousin’s house. In the process of fleeing, investigators said he dropped his broken cell phone in an alley, later recovered by police, who executed a search warrant on it.

That warrant execution, investigators said, confirmed the historical locations of the suspect from Friday through Sunday morning, until about 20 minutes after the shooting, when it last pinged in the area it was found.

“[Tate] is captured on a steady network of surveillance cameras until arriving at his cousin’s residence. Police later recovered the stolen bicycle in the gangway behind his cousin’s residence,” ASA Rodgers explained.

While investigators had recovered Huesca’s SUV, his service weapon, was still missing. That was until April 26, when police paid a visit to his friend, Caschaus Tate, they revealed.

According to prosecutors, police went to Caschaus Tate’s home in the 10800 block of South Hale Avenue, the spot Tate took an Uber from to his cousin’s house on Friday. He also allegedly Ubered back to the home on South Hale hours after the shooting.

Investigators said they were hoping to talk to Caschaus to see if he had information on the suspect’s whereabouts, but he had other plans.

“Caschaus Tate removed a gun from his bedroom, climbed out his bedroom window, walked into his neighbor’s yard, and threw the firearm into his own backyard,” read the court document.

That gun belonged to Huesca, investigators said. It was revealed in court someone defaced the serial number on the gun in one spot, while it was still visible in another.

Caschaus was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was set to appear in court on May 3, but his case was continued, with the next hearing set for May 16.

In the detention hearing for Tate Friday, Asst. Public Defender Lilian McCartin, appointed to represent him, argued the evidence explained was not enough to hold her client. A judge decided otherwise.

Tate is charged Thursday with first-degree murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen firearm in Huesca’s murder. He is due back in court on May 22.

At the time of his alleged involvement in the murder, prosecutors confirmed Tate was on pretrial release in three misdemeanor cases, including two in Kane County, resisting arrest and obstructing justice, and a pending misdemeanor case related to an arrest in Olympia Fields.

He reportedly missed his status hearing in the Kane County cases on May 1, and failed to appear for his hearing in Cook County on April 24.

Authorities announced another arrest tied to the case Friday morning.

The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office confirmed Malik Murphy is charged with one count of concealing or aiding a fugitive, which is a Class 4 Felony. His relationship to Tate has not yet been revealed.

On Thursday evening, Huesca’s family, released the following statement on behalf of the family:

Man charged in murder of Chicago police officer

Several City Council members, including Ald. Raymond Lopez and Ald. Silvana Tabares, also came to the hearing Friday to show their support, along with former CPD Officer, Carlos Yanez Jr., partner of CPD officer Ella French, killed in the line of duty in 2021.

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