Man convicted of shooting Chicago police officer after T-Mobile robbery in 2017
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago man was convicted on Friday of shooting a Chicago police officer after robbing a T-Mobile store in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in 2017.
A Cook County jury found 34-year-old Dante Jeffries guilty of five counts of attempted murder, four counts of aggravated kidnapping, four counts of armed robbery, one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, one count of aggravated battery, and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm, according to Cook County court records.
He is due back in court on June 12 for post-trial motions. Sentencing has not yet been set.
Jeffries and two other men had been indicted for robbing a T-Mobile store at 43rd and Ashland in July 2017 and shooting a Chicago police officer during a chase after the robbery.
Prosecutors have said Jeffries and 27-year-old Donzell Grant walked into the T-Mobile store around 1:30 p.m. on July 21 and pointed guns at four employees on the sales floor.
Jeffries and Grant forced them into the back of the store, where they tied them up with zip ties and demanded the combination to the store safe, prosecutors said. A fifth employee and a customer were able to escape and call 911.
Grant and Jeffries then emptied a stash of iPhones inside the store, robbed the employees, and headed out the front door, where they saw two police officers pulling up in a marked squad car, according to prosecutors. They then ran out the back of the store and circled to the front of the strip mall, running across Ashland Avenue as police officers gave chase.
Prosecutors said Jeffries shot one of the officers in the knee. The officer returned fire, and she and her partner kept chasing the robbers, who jumped into a waiting getaway car before getting out and sprinting down a gangway.
An officer was able to pin Grant against the door of a garage, where he was arrested.
Police also arrested the getaway driver, 31-year-old Cortez Harrington, whose Dodge Charger was found a few blocks away on Marshfield.
Jeffries carjacked a minivan while fleeing police but was arrested the next day.
Grant and Harrington have yet to face trial.
