CHICAGO — Jakwon Buchanan, one of four people charged with murdering off-duty Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston during a robbery spree on Saturday, appears in a gun-filled music video posted to YouTube just two weeks ago.
Buchanan, a law enforcement source said, is “in the top 10 for prolific juvenile carjackers over the last two years” in Chicago.
Although he turned 18 just two months ago, Buchanan already has an extensive criminal record in the juvenile court system, officials said. He has a carjacking case pending there now. His other adjudications—similar to convictions in adult court—include robbery in 2019 and criminal trespass to vehicles in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
In the music video, Buchanan performs under the name “Lil Munchie,” waving guns, sometimes two at a time. He’s joined on camera by several other gun-toting men in supporting roles. The video was removed from YouTube hours after CWBChicago posted this story. However, it is still available in the following tweet (NSFW language):
“My face tatted up, so I got on this f*ckin’ mask,” the face-tatted Buchanan raps at one point.
The song title, “Switches,” refers to Glock switches, illegal after-market devices that enable semi-automatic handguns to fire fully automatic, like a machine gun. This YouTube video shows a federal agent firing a switch-equipped handgun on a shooting range:
During his bail hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors said Buchanan and his accomplices went on the robbery spree that ended with Preston’s murder because Buchanan’s girlfriend wanted money for a barbecue. He also drove the group’s car for at least part of the two-hour spree as they searched the South Side for robbery victims, Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord-Rodgers said.
On Sunday, the day after Preston’s murder, Buchanan called his ex-girlfriend and asked if he could stay at her house because he had to “lay low,” McCord-Rodgers said. He ordered her an Uber, and she went to pick him up at an accomplice’s home in the 7600 block of South Bishop.
But law enforcement had set up surveillance on Breeland’s house, and they pulled the Uber over seconds after Buchanan climbed inside.
Officials said Buchanan crawled out of the Uber with a gun equipped with a loaded extended magazine and a Glock switch. Another firearm found in the Uber’s back seat is believed to be the murder weapon. Fingerprints from Buchanan and two alleged accomplices were on that weapon, and Buchanan’s DNA was found on some of the shell casings police found at the murder scene, McCord-Rodgers said.
But according to McCord-Rodgers, one of the other accused men, not Buchanan, admitted to firing the shots that killed Preston.
In addition to two counts of murder, Buchanan is charged with armed robbery with a firearm, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, burglary, arson, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and, thanks to the Glock switch he memorialized in song, unlawful possession of a machine gun.
All four of the accused are being held without bail.