Wounded CPD Officer Dies

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 29, 2008 4:00PM

For the second time in three months, a Chicago Police officer has died in the line of duty. Nathaniel "Nate" Taylor Jr., 39, was shot three times yesterday morning and spent most of the day in critical condition before passing away yesterday evening. Taylor, a 14-year veteran and a member of the CPD's Narcotics and Gang Intelligence Unit, and several other officers were waiting at the home of Lamar Cooper, a drug suspect, in the 7900 block of South Clyde to serve Cooper with a warrant.

All hell broke loose, however, when police approached Cooper who was sitting in his car. The police reportedly identified themselves as officers and Cooper responded by opening fire. Police responded with shots of their own, injuring Cooper, who was last reported in stable condition. Cooper has an attempted murder conviction and two burglary convictions on his record and after the shooting, police recovered two packets of cocaine he was attempting to destroy by eating them. Later, when searching Cooper's house, they also found more drugs, several weapons, and several surveillance cameras.

Taylor is survived by his wife and a young daughter. Leo Schmitz, the acting deputy chief of the Organized Crime Division, said of Taylor, "He was loved by his partners and his teammates. He was the guy everyone went to with questions." Deputy Chief of Detectives Al Wysinger remembered Taylor: "He was the first guy to set up the surveillance and the last guy there at the end of the night working on paperwork. He wasn't afraid, either, to get out on the street."

In spite of yesterday's incident, many neighborhood members are shocked that Cooper would be involved in drugs. One neighbor told CBS 2 that Cooper was not a drug dealer, and added, "It's just sad. He's going to be labeled as the bad guy -- like we'd all be labeled as a bad guy." Tonya Denton, another neighbor, said, ""I am really kind of shocked. We believed he was trying to keep our block safe."

Taylor's shooting follows the July killing of CDP veteran officer Richard Francis. Another officer, Robert Soto, was shot and killed in August, though he was off-duty at the time of the shooting.

View of suspect Cooper's house via NBC 5 video