CHICAGO — Two armed men who tried to rob an off-duty corrections officer in the West Loop both fired shots at the victim before he returned fire, seriously wounding one of them, officials said Tuesday.
Desmond White, 32, who is on parole, remains hospitalized tonight as he recovers from at least five gunshot wounds he received in the altercation early Sunday.
CWBChicago readers may remember White. We introduced him a couple of years ago when he was charged with participating in a forgery scheme that allowed people on electronic monitoring for felony cases to get permission to leave their homes for jobs they didn’t really have.
More on that in a minute.
Regarding the robbery attempt and shooting, White and a man who remains on the loose allegedly confronted a 23-year-old Cook County correctional officer around 1:41 a.m. and demanded his watch and other valuables at gunpoint.
Prosecutors alleged that the victim identified himself as a peace officer before both robbers fired shots at him during the robbery attempt. He escaped injury.
The officer pulled his weapon and opened fire on the robbers as they fled the scene. White showed up at Rush Hospital in an Uber about 30 minutes later with multiple gunshot wounds.
He is charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, attempted armed robbery with a firearm, and Class X armed habitual criminal. Prosecutors have filed a detention petition to keep him in custody pending trial. A judge will consider their request after White is discharged from the hospital. On Tuesday, Judge William Fahy ordered White held until that hearing takes place.
White has been on parole since December after serving half of concurrent four-year sentences he received for being a felon in possession of a weapon or body armor and forgery, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.
He was among several people accused in 2022 of using forged work documentation to secure permission to move about the city for jobs they didn’t have while on electronic monitoring for pending felonies. Former City Colleges of Chicago basketball coach Edmond Pryor operated the forgery mill.
Prosecutors said White submitted documentation to the sheriff’s office in February 2019 to get permission to travel around the city while working as a delivery driver for UPS. However, investigators looking into Pryor’s alleged forgery operation learned from UPS that White never worked for them, the documents he provided were not genuine, and contact information on the paperwork was not associated with the company.
Phone records show that White “almost immediately” contacted Pryor anytime White had a conversation with the sheriff’s EM staff, Costello alleged.
In addition to the charges he is on parole for, White was convicted of a federal narcotics charge in 2019 and state felony drug charges in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018, prosecutors said
