After Chicago cops arrested Alphonso Talley for allegedly robbing a Family Dollar store in Albany Park and violently attacking the store’s cashier Saturday morning, he told them he had swallowed baggies of drugs.
It’s a story Talley had told cops who arrested him at least three other times since 2017, CWB Chicago has reported. Each time was a lie designed to land him in the soft confines of a hospital rather than the hardness of a police lockup, veteran cops say.
As two veteran Chicago officers stood guard over him at Swedish Hospital this weekend, Talley prepared for a CT scan. As an officer removed his handcuffs so he could undergo the scan, Talley reached under his blanket, pulled out a 10-millimeter handgun, and shot Officer John Bartholomew, 38, in the head, killing him, prosecutors said Monday.
The 26-year-old, seven-time felon then turned the gun on Bartholomew’s partner, a 57-year-old officer with 21 years on the force, prosecutors alleged, shooting him in the face. The second officer is clinging to life.
Talley then allegedly fired a shot through a hospital window to shatter the glass, jumped out, and, completely naked, scurried into the leafy Lincoln Square neighborhood. Officers found him hiding in the 2600 block of West Carmen a little over an hour later. There, they allegedly recovered the murder weapon.
Prosecutors did not say how Talley came to possess the firearm. However, federal prosecutors on Monday morning charged a suburban woman with lying on paperwork when she bought the gun in May 2024, falsely claiming she did not use illegal drugs and falsely claiming she would be the gun’s final owner.
She allegedly admitted to ATF agents tracing the weapon after Saturday’s shootings that her then-boyfriend, a convicted felon, gave her money to buy the gun for him. She was, she allegedly admitted, addicted to fentanyl at the time. Federal prosecutors drew no connection between the woman and Talley, who was housed at the Cook County Jail at the time of the gun purchase.
Talley escaped from electronic monitoring in March while on pretrial release for armed carjacking and armed robbery, according to court records. He is also listed as a parole absconder by the Illinois Department of Corrections, where he is on supervised release for possessing a stolen motor vehicle and battering a correctional officer. His previous convictions include being a felon in possession of a firearm and four aggravated robberies.
In connection with Saturday’s crimes, Talley is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated armed kidnapping, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, aggravated battery of a peace officer, aggravated discharge of a firearm in an occupied building, escape from a peace officer, aggravated unlawful restraint, armed robbery, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, possession of a firearm by a repeat felon, destruction of evidence, and possession of a fraudulent ID card. Judge Luciano Panici Jr. detained him on Monday.
After charges were announced Monday morning, CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling called Saturday’s shootings “a stark and heartbreaking reminder of the dangers our officers face all too often on this job.”
“Though this does not bring solace to this tragedy, it does bring the first step in accountability,” Snelling said, thanking officers who quickly responded to take Talley into custody and detectives who worked to secure charges. He asked Chicagoans to “hold the family of our fallen officer in your hearts” and to pray for the injured officer still fighting for his life.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
