A 30-year-old man is facing charges for allegedly firing at two Chicago police officers during a gas station shootout in Englewood six years ago. Court records show he was on felony bail at the time of the crime.
Dontrell Cooper is charged with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer in connection with the shootout in the early morning of August 11, 2019.
The officers, in full uniform and driving a marked patrol car, were handling a disturbance at a gas station in the 200 block of West 63rd Street when they heard gunfire outside, prosecutors said. The cops allegedly saw Cooper and another man, Jose Reynolds, using a black SUV for cover.
One officer said he saw both men point their guns toward him and fire in his direction. The second officer reported seeing muzzle flashes, one from Reynolds and two from Cooper, before she returned fire. The men ran from the lot and escaped by jumping into an SUV near St. Bernard Hospital, according to a detention petition.
Investigators recovered a 9-millimeter and a .40-caliber handgun hidden in bushes along the path the men took while running from the gas station. Prosecutors said ballistics tests showed the weapons were used to fire at the officers. In 2021, DNA analysis identified Cooper as the major contributor to samples taken from the .40-caliber pistol.
Reynolds, who turned up at a hospital within 10 minutes of the shooting with a gunshot wound, was arrested and charged with attempted murder of police officers. He ultimately pleaded guilty in 2023 to aggravated discharge of a firearm toward a peace officer, receiving a 10-year sentence.
Prosecutors said a search of his phone revealed a photograph of Cooper wearing the same clothing as one of the shooters.
Cooper recently surfaced after being arrested on unrelated charges and hospitalized for undisclosed injuries. Court records show he is still in the hospital and will appear in court for a detention hearing once discharged.
At the time of the shootout, Cooper was already on bail for a felony aggravated fleeing charge, which later resulted in probation.
The case also ties into Cook County’s bail reform debate. Two months after the shootout, Chief Judge Timothy Evans said, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the bail reform initiative he introduced in 2017.
In response, CWBChicago began its “Not Horrible” reporting series, which has documented more than 400 people shot or killed by defendants on felony pretrial release in Cook County.
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