Area Soldier Killed In Fort Hood Rampage
Oprah's Leaving Chicago?
Strollergate 2009: Doubts Raised
Marcus Jordan Wears Nike, Adidas Bids Adieu To School
After The Flood
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
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Yeah, well...that sort of thing's going to happen when you open fire on a police officer, try to hide cocaine, and have a house full of drugs, weapons, and surveillance cameras. You know, on top of having the prior convictions for attempted murder and burglary.
From the other drug dealers?
Don't trust the police, trust the convicted murderer. Unreal.
I'm sure that whole neighborhood felt they were targets of the po-leese. Lamar Cooper is not cartel drug lord. He wasn't going to build basketball courts and hold festivals on the street.
And selling and manufacturing drugs out of a house in an urban area is not safe for a neighborhood. Just like meth labs don't fill the air with the smell of lavender and lilac.
When I was growing up my parents had a good friend who was a cop. They had known him since they were all kids and he was
just the neatest guy in the world to me.
I remember him saying one time that the scariest call to go on as a police officer is into someone's home. I also remember being shocked by this...in my young mind I couldn't understand how someone's house could be scarier than the mean streets.
What a sad, sad story....the victim sounded like a stand up guy.
Seems a shame that the only times nice things are really said about the police in the media are after one of them has been shot.
It's the truth, Streets.
Agreed, Streets.
It's also unfortunate that the Trib spent more time talking about what a great guy Lamar Cooper is than they did talking about a murdered police officer. Cooper's family going on the news, claiming that he was just sitting in his car and praying, is one of the more disgusting displays I've seen in my life as well. If that's the case, who killed Officer Taylor, widowed his wife and left his child without her father? The bogeyman?
Yeah he was praying with a gun in the car saw the police coming to do a search warrant and opened fire. He has previous convictions for att. murder and 2 burglary's but he is a good guy. His house is set up with survallance camera's so he can see who is cominp and had 3 attack dogs plus more firearms inside. But lets make him the victim here. No wonder the police dont care.