Bail for suspect in police station shooting set at $500,000
CHICAGO (AP) — A judge on Wednesday set bail at $500,000 for a man suspected of pointing guns at Chicago police officers after he climbed a fire escape and through an open fifth- floor door of a building where they were training.
Donald Patrick's appearance in bond court before Cook County Judge Maryam Ahmad came a day after he was charged with eight felony counts — including five counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer — in connection with an incident at police facility in Homan Square on the city's West Side.
Patrick, 47, of Waukegan, suffered a non-life threatening gunshot injury to his face during the chaotic scene Monday morning in which officers going through SWAT training suddenly found themselves scrambling to confront an armed suspect in their midst.
A court proffer provided by Cook County State's Attorney's office that outlines the incident does not include a clear explanation of Patrick's actions. Though evidence and property belonging to people who have been arrested by the city's police department is stored at the facility, Patrick, according to the proffer, was told when he initially entered the building that none of his property was there because he'd never been arrested by Chicago police.
But Patrick does admit, according to the proffer, that after he was told none of his belongings were in the building, he went outside, pulled down a ladder to a outside fire escape and climbed to the fifth floor. Then, after he went through an open door he grabbed automatic pistols on a table in the area where officers were training.
The guns were either empty or loaded with pellets that sting but do not cause serious injury or death, Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters Monday afternoon. Brown said he did not know if Patrick attempted to shoot officers.
In the proffer, prosecutors say only that Patrick, who had put one of the guns in a pocket, pointed the other two guns at officers before one officer fired as many as seven times at him, striking him once in the face.
Patrick was represented by an attorney from the county's public defenders office. The office did not immediately return a call for comment after the hearing.
