Members of a federal task force shot two people when an undercover firearms purchase went sideways in suburban Country Club Hills on Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. A total of five people are now in custody.
The shooting occurred around 5:30 p.m. near the intersection of 189th Street and Loretto Lane. In a statement, ATF said an ATF special agent and a task force officer, identified by other agencies as a Chicago police officer, fired their weapons after undercover agents were confronted during what authorities described as an attempted armed robbery.
“On Tuesday, at approximately 5:30 p.m., during a firearms trafficking operation in Country Club Hills, an ATF Special Agent and a Task Force Officer discharged their firearms in response to an attempted armed robbery of undercover agents, striking two offenders,” the agency said.
Both wounded suspects were taken into custody and transported to hospitals for treatment. Authorities said they were in stable condition Tuesday night. Three additional suspects were apprehended at the scene. Officials have not released the identities of the suspects or the officers involved.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said its investigators were responding to the incident because a Chicago Police Department officer was involved. COPA will investigate the use of force to determine whether the officer’s actions were consistent with Chicago Police Department policy.
ATF said it is being assisted in the investigation by the Illinois State Police, the FBI, and the Chicago Police Department.
Earlier this year, federal prosecutors charged three people who allegedly tried to rob an undercover ATF agent during a gun sale in a Walmart parking lot on the city’s Far South Side.
According to the complaint, 19-year-old Jeremy Jones was advertising firearms for sale on Instagram under the handle @spoodyfrm76th, including a Glock Model 19 pistol and a purple and black Ruger Security-9 pistol. An undercover agent who had been in touch with Jones for nearly a year began DMing Jones about those two firearms in late March.
They struck a deal to meet in the parking lot of a store on the 2500 block of West 95th Street in Evergreen Park, but Jones allegedly changed the meeting place to a Walmart at 10900 South Doty Avenue, saying the original spot was “too hot.” A second ATF undercover officer accompanied the first to the new location for backup.
When Jones arrived in a black Chevrolet Cruze around 11:30 a.m., Carmell Massey, 20, was driving, and 22-year-old Christopher Densmore was in the back seat, according to the complaint, and Jones, who uses crutches to walk, was in the front passenger seat.
Densmore allegedly got into the agents’ car and showed them the purple and black Ruger pistol. The agent removed the magazine and set it on the center console, but Densmore reloaded the weapon and said he wanted the money first, according to the complaint. When the two couldn’t agree on the order of the exchange, Densmore got back in the Cruze.
The undercover agent then got out of their vehicle and approached the Cruze on foot, carrying $600 in government money to pay for the Ruger. According to the complaint, Jones grabbed both the money and the officer through the open front passenger window, and the two began struggling over the cash. Jones then pointed the purple and black Ruger pistol directly at the undercover officer, at which point the officer drew his own weapon and fired one shot at Jones, the complaint said. The bullet struck the Cruze.
Both undercover officers signaled the surveillance team to move in. Massey allegedly drove the Cruze head-on into an ATF vehicle that had its lights and sirens activated. ATF vehicles boxed in and disabled the Cruze. All three men were taken into custody.
After being read their Miranda rights, Jones and Densmore both told investigators they had planned to rob the undercover officer of the buy money before the deal ever took place, according to the complaint. Massey claimed he did not know about the robbery plan until Jones and the officer began struggling over the money.
Each man is charged with one count of attempted robbery of a person with lawful custody of U.S. property and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
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