Federal prosecutors abruptly dropped charges Thursday against three men accused of participating in an attempted robbery of an undercover ATF gun-buying operation in south suburban Country Club Hills after video appeared to contradict portions of the government’s account of what led a federal task force officer to shoot one of the accused men.
The unexpected reversal came just eight days after authorities announced charges against Amir Fagan, Demond Edwards, and a third defendant stemming from a June 9 operation that ended with Fagan and Edwards being shot by law enforcement officers.
In a court filing Thursday, prosecutors said they recently obtained video footage of the shooting involving Edwards and determined it “appear[s] inconsistent with the description of the shooting” contained in the criminal complaint that an FBI agent signed on June 11.
According to that complaint, approximately five men and one woman arrived in a Dodge Dart in the 18800 block of Loretto Lane around 5:30 p.m. on June 9 as two undercover ATF agents, a confidential informant, and a firearms trafficker sat inside a covert vehicle during a planned gun transaction.
Federal authorities alleged that Fagan and Edwards exited the Dart and approached the undercover vehicle. The complaint said Fagan pulled a handgun from inside his jacket while Edwards removed a firearm from a backpack, and both men pointed their weapons at the undercover team. An undercover ATF agent drew his service weapon and ordered the pair to drop their guns, prosecutors said.
Moments later, an ATF response team arrived in a Dodge Ram pickup truck and an all-terrain vehicle with emergency lights activated. Team members opened fire after seeing the suspects point guns at the undercover agents, according to the complaint. Fagan was struck in the head and arm.
CWB Chicago obtained the following video from the U.S. District Court in Chicago. It has been edited by CWB Chicago to end immediately before the ATF Task Force officer fired his weapon. It does not show the shooting.
The charges began to unravel because of questions surrounding the shooting of the second suspect, whom authorities identified as Edwards. According to the complaint, officers chased Edwards after the alleged robbery attempt. The document described him as wearing a black balaclava-style mask, gray gloves, all black clothing, and a black leather backpack containing a firearm.
Shortly after agents lost sight of that individual, an ATF task force officer, believed to be a Chicago police officer, encountered Edwards several blocks away. Video obtained by CWB Chicago on Friday shows Edwards was wearing white gym shoes, maroon track pants, and a blue T-shirt.
The FBI agent’s complaint alleged that the officer identified himself as law enforcement and ordered Edwards to stop. Edwards allegedly replied, “I’m not going back to jail,” before engaging in a physical struggle with the officer. The complaint said Edwards repeatedly struck the officer in the face and body.
“In response, the law enforcement officer shot EDWARDS with his department-issued firearm,” the complaint stated.
The cellphone video appears to begin after the confrontation was already underway. Edwards is seen lying in the street while the officer straddles him with a handgun drawn, apparently communicating with other officers farther down the block. After roughly 25 seconds, Edwards appears to thrust upward, hurling the officer onto the pavement. As Edwards rises to his feet, the officer, still seated on the ground, fires. Edwards immediately collapses beside the officer’s unmarked vehicle.
Authorities have never claimed that Edwards possessed a firearm at the time he was shot. However, the complaint said investigators later recovered a firearm from the rooftop of a residence in the area.
The newly disclosed footage was not initially provided to the prosecutors handling the case. According to Thursday’s filing, ATF representatives informed the U.S. Attorney’s Office on June 12, one day after charges were filed, that video of the Edwards shooting existed. Thursday’s court filing said the attorneys contacted about the video were not part of the prosecution team and assumed the prosecutors assigned to the case had already reviewed the footage.
In fact, though, the prosecutors handling the case did not learn of the video until this week, according to the filing. They immediately requested it from ATF, which provided the cellphone video and a second recording that CWB Chicago also obtained from federal court records on Friday.
The second video, captured by a home security camera, does not show the shooting itself. It does, however, show the involved officer driving through the neighborhood and stopping to confront Edwards.
“You got something in your f****** hand?” the officer can be heard shouting from his vehicle.
“No,” a voice responds from off-camera.
The struggle and shooting are not seen in the second video and no gunfire is audible in the footage released by the court.
Prosecutors also disclosed additional concerns about another allegation contained in the original complaint. The FBI agent who wrote the initial charging document alleged that the third accused man, Cashonn Toney, struck an occupied undercover ATF vehicle while attempting to flee the scene. Prosecutors told U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling on Thursday that newly reviewed evidence is “potentially inconsistent with the description of the flight” outlined in the original complaint.
Holleb Hotaling granted the government’s motion to dismiss the charges without prejudice, leaving open the possibility that prosecutors could refile the case after further review. The judge, however, rejected efforts by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the ATF to keep both videos under seal, saying “the public’s interest in transparency weighs heavily against sealing the videos.”
Questions about the official account of Edwards’ shooting surfaced almost immediately after the charges were announced. While the federal complaint said the officer fired after Edwards repeatedly punched him during a physical struggle, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates shootings involving Chicago police officers, described the incident differently.
In a public statement, COPA said the officer “observed the attempted robbery and began a vehicle pursuit in an unmarked vehicle of one of the individuals. Both the officer and individual exited their vehicles and shortly thereafter, the officer discharged their weapon, striking the individual.” COPA’s version made no mention of the prolonged physical altercation described in the FBI complaint.
