Charges dropped in slaying of off-duty Chicago cop and friend

Charges dropped in slaying of off-duty Chicago cop and friend; suspect released
By Matthew Walberg | Chicago Tribune reporter
3:42 PM CDT, September 10, 2008

Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges Wednesday against a Chicago man in the slaying and robbery last month of off-duty Chicago Police Detective Robert Soto and his friend Kathryn Romberg.

Jason Austin, 26, was released from custody shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday. Austin said nothing and drove away in a white Dodge Neon.

The Tribune reported in its Saturday editions that questions had arisen about key evidence in the case and that law enforcement sources expressed concerns that the problems made it more difficult to prove in court.

In a joint statement, Cook County State's Atty. Dick Devine and Police Supt. Jody Weis stressed that the decision "does not preclude any future charges."
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Chicago cop fatally shoots teen on Southwest Side

Police said the 16-year-old and 12-year-old boys were not armed, and neither was arrested because there was no break-in.

Chicago cop fatally shoots teen on Southwest Side
By Jeremy Gorner Chicago Tribune reporter
12:12 PM CDT, August 18, 2008
A Chicago police officer shot and killed an armed teen who confronted him Sunday night on the grounds of a Chicago Housing Authority complex on the Southwest Side, police said early Monday.

The teen was identified by his family as Marcus Landrum, 18, who would have turned 19 on Monday.

The shooting occurred about 10:10 p.m. in the 4900 block of West 45th Street, outside the LeClaire Courts homes in the Garfield Ridge community.

Police responded to a burglary call at a residence about a block from the housing complex and were given descriptions of three male suspects, all of whom were seen riding bicycles, police said.
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$10,000 reward announced in slaying of veteran Chicago cop

$10,000 reward announced in slaying of veteran Chicago cop
By Robert Mitchum, Azam Ahmed and David Heinzmann | Chicago Tribune staff reporters
5:13 PM CDT, August 14, 2008

A $10,000 reward was announced Thursday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of veteran Chicago Police Officer Robert Soto.

The officer was fatally shot Wednesday morning along with a female passenger in his sport-utility vehicle on Chicago's West Side during what police called an apparent botched robbery.

The shooting woke up residents on the 3000 block of Franklin Boulevard. When police arrived they found Kathryn Romberg, 45, and Soto, 49, bleeding from gunshot wounds. Soto was pronounced dead in Mt. Sinai Hospital at 3:05 a.m. Thursday.

Soto, a 23-year veteran of the Police Department, most recently worked on the day shift as a bomb and arson detective, said one of his supervisors, Sgt. Jim Egan.
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Chicago:Off-duty cop critically wounded; DCFS supervisor killed

A tow truck driver, right, prepares to tow the vehicle where two people were shot overnight. An off-duty Chicago police officer was critically wounded and a woman with him was killed when shots were fired into the vehicle. (Tribune photo by Chuck Berman / August 13, 2008)

Double shooting jolts quiet Chicago neighborhood
Off-duty cop critically wounded; DCFS supervisor killed
By Robert Mitchum, Azam Ahmed and David Heinzmann Chicago Tribune reporters
7:22 PM CDT, August 13, 2008



When residents on a quiet block of Franklin Boulevard in Chicago were awoken by shouting from a black sport-utility vehicle late Tuesday, they called police to complain about the noise, thinking it was another case of people drinking on the block.

About an hour and a half later, they were awakened again—this time by gunshots, loud, long blasts from a car horn and a man inside the SUV screaming, "Help me, I've been shot!"

When police arrived, they found Kathryn Romberg, 45, and Robert Soto, 49, an off-duty 23-year veteran of the Chicago police force, bleeding from gunshot wounds in what police call an attempted robbery. Romberg, who lived in an apartment only steps from where the vehicle was parked, was pronounced dead at the scene. Soto, a detective in the police bomb and arson division, remained in critical condition Wednesday night in Mt. Sinai Hospital.
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Chicago Police Officer Richard Francis killed outside police station

Woman Kills 27-year Veteran Cop With His Own Gun

Chicago Tribune via YellowBrix

July 02, 2008

CHICAGO, IL – A 27-year veteran Chicago police officer was shot and killed by a woman who grabbed his gun during a struggle outside a police headquarters on the North Side early Wednesday morning, Supt. Jody Weis said.

Officers who responded to the scene at Belmont and Western Avenues around 2 a.m., then shot the woman several times, critically wounding her, authorities said.

Belmont District Officer Richard Francis, 60, was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center and pronounced dead just before 3 a.m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. The unidentified woman was at the same hospital being treated early this morning.

“Our focus right now is on his family. It’s a tragic loss for his family, it’s a terrible loss for the Chicago Police Department,” Weis said in a brief statement outside the hospital. “It’s a stark reminder of what the dangers that the officers of this department face everyday.”
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