Man ordered to jail pending trial in the fatal shooting of a Chicago police officer

A 23-year-old man will be jailed pending trial in the fatal shooting of Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez

ByThe Associated Press
November 7, 2024, 6:29 PM

CHICAGO -- A 23-year-old man was ordered jailed Thursday pending trial in the fatal shooting of Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez.

Darion McMillian appeared in a Cook County courtroom filled with police officers and relatives of Martinez.

Judge Deidre Dyer ruled that McMillian was a danger to the community.

He faces two first-degree murder charges, as well as charges of attempted murder of a police officer, residential burglary and weapons violations.

Martinez, 26, was shot Monday after he and other officers stopped a vehicle that was blocking traffic on the city's Southside. As Martinez and his partner were speaking with the driver, Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti says a man in the front passenger seat identified as McMillian was seen reaching for a bag on the floor.

The officers ordered him to stop, but the man pulled a handgun with a machine gun-conversion device and an extended magazine and fired at Martinez, striking him and the driver, Ursitti said.

McMillian was arrested a short time later after a chase and search.

Martinez was pronounced dead at a hospital. The driver of the vehicle also died. A third man who was in the rear seat of the vehicle also was arrested, but released after investigators determined he was not involved in the shooting, police said.

McMillian was represented in court Thursday by a public defender. A telephone call to the public defender's office after business hours on Thursday went unanswered.

Ursitti said that at the time of the shooting, McMillian was on release from jail as a condition of a prior arrest for attempting to defraud a drug and alcohol screening test.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating the shooting.