Xavier Tate had allegedly been wandering around the Gage Park neighborhood for hours when Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca drove past on his way home from work and pulled into a driveway late last month.
Tate walked up to the SUV and fired 10 shots at Huesca, hitting him in the head, chest, arms and thighs, Cook County prosecutors said in court Friday. A neighbor looked out and saw Huesca, still wearing his uniform, lying on the ground as Tate allegedly got into the SUV and drove off.
Huesca never fired back, police officials disclosed Friday.
Tate eluded authorities for 10 days, until he was arrested in a Glendale Heights apartment complex on Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking.
During that time, investigators said they were able to collect overwhelming evidence against him: his DNA at the crime scene, including on shell casings, and video from nearly a hundred cameras tracking his movements before and immediately after the shooting.
As Tate appeared in a courtroom packed with police officers Friday, Judge Mary Marubio cited the “extensive investigation” as she ordered him detained.
Tate sat calmly in a blue sweatsuit issued by the Cook County Jail and listened intently, occasionally nodding when the judge spoke directly to him but otherwise showing little reaction as prosecutors read through four pages detailing their evidence.
A relative of Huesca’s could be heard crying softly several times, but family members were largely stoic during the proceedings. Afterward, Huesca’s mother Edith thanked everyone for “supporting us in this horrible pain.”
Making her first public comments since the shooting, Huesca said her son “was a good police officer, a good son … He just made his work the best that he can.”
Luis Huesca’s brother Emiliano said he felt some relief at Tate’s arrest. “I just want everyone to know that there will be justice done for my brother and I want that justice to be done, put our family at least at peace.
“I hope my brother gets that justice that he deserves,” he added.
Neither police nor prosecutors gave a reason why Tate decided to follow Huesca after wandering the streets in the area for at least two hours on April 21.
While police have collected video tracking his movements starting more than a day before the shooting, officials said little Friday about how he remained at large for so long afterward, especially with a $100,000 reward for information in the case.
Investigators traveled to Wisconsin and Iowa, where Tate has relatives, and went to the Rockford area, according to Chief of Detectives Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti.
Then Wednesday afternoon, a fugitive task force converged on a Glendale Heights apartment complex and arrested Tate without incident.
Police officials would not say what led officers there, and prosecutors revealed no new information in court about Tate’s capture. Malik Murphy, who lives in the apartment where Tate was found, has been charged in DuPage County with aiding and abetting a fugitive.
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