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Accused Chicago officer killer ordered held without bond

A judge ordered a teenager held without bond Friday in the fatal shooting of a Chicago police officer

Via AP news wire
Friday 03 March 2023 15:20 EST

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A judge ordered a teenager held without bond Friday in the fatal shooting of a Chicago police officer.

Steven Montano, 18, of Chicago, is charged with first-degree murder, two felony firearms charges and misdemeanor counts of assault and interfering with reporting domestic violence.

The officer was shot several times Wednesday afternoon on the city’s Southwest Side, Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown has said. He was identified Thursday as Officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso, 32, by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The bail hearing was held a short time after the body of Vasquez-Lasso was taken with a police escort from the medical examiner’s office to a funeral home in Oak Lawn.

Montano was being chased when he suddenly turned around and pointed a gun at Vasquez-Lasso, prosecutors said at the hearing, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The two exchanged gunfire, with Montano hitting the officer in the head, arm and leg, prosecutors said. The officer fired twice and hit Montano in the face.

A police officer testified that Montano remained in critical condition Friday at Stroger Hospital.

An assistant public defender representing Montano said she had not had the opportunity to speak with her client and could provide no information about him for the hearing.

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