Menelik Jackson sentenced to 90 years in prison for 2019 murder of CPD Officer Juan Rivera
A man has been sentenced to 90 years in prison for the 2019 murder of a Chicago police officer outside the former Rock-n-Roll McDonald's in the River North neighborhood.
Menelik Jackson, 30, was convicted in October on two counts of murder, one count of aggravated battery, and two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm in the shooting death of CPD officer John Rivera.
Police have said Jackson and Jaquan Washington got into a fight with a group of Hispanic men on a party bus at the flagship McDonald's restaurant at 600 N. Clark St. in the early morning March 23, 2019.
Jackson later was seen on video running back to the McDonald's with a gun after the party bus had left. Jackson then approached a homeless man, Jovan Battle, in a nearby doorway, and asked if he had seen any Hispanic people in the area.
Rivera, who was off-duty at the time, was less than a block away from the McDonald's, leaving Stout Barrel House & Pizza with his girlfriend, a friend, and another off-duty officer. Battle pointed out Rivera's vehicle to Jackson, who walked up to the car's driver's side door and started shooting.
"In an act of cowardice, Mr. Jackson went to get a gun to settle this petty dispute, which resulted in him murdering the first Hispanic man that he came in contact with," then-Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said after Jackson's arrest in 2019.
Police said Rivera shielded his girlfriend from Jackson's bullets, even after he was already wounded.
Battle and Washington also have been convicted for their roles in the shooting. A jury found Battle guilty of murder, aggravated battery, and other charges in August 2019, and was later sentenced to 65 years in prison. Washington pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in August 2023, and was later sentenced to 13 years in prison.
