A Chicago police captain left cover to warn arriving officers of the danger when he was shot by a fugitive who was wanted for a shooting spree days earlier in Indianapolis, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.
Daniel Brown, 42, his right arm in a cast after it was broken during his arrest, was ordered held without bail on charges he shot Capt. Edward Kulbida and was responsible for the death of the boyfriend of Brown’s sister in a shootout and standoff Tuesday night in the Englewood neighborhood.
Brown’s attorneys said he served with the Navy during the first Gulf War and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.
On Tuesday, officers with the Police Department’s fugitive task force as well as U.S. deputy marshals responded to an anonymous tip that Brown was at his sister’s apartment in the 7200 block of South Lowe Avenue.
Officers saw Brown looking out from an apartment window and shouted at him, “Police, police,” prosecutors said. As officers attempted to enter the building, he opened fire, said Assistant State’s Attorney Bob Mack.
Responding to a 10-1 call that officers were under fire, Kulbida, a 29-year police veteran, took cover with other officers in the vestibule area, underneath the window from where shots had been fired. Unable to communicate by police radio in the vestibule, Kulbida exited the front of the building to warn other officers, Mack said. At that moment, he was shot in the right shoulder and sustained a graze wound to the head above his right eye.
More Top Picks Best Reading Lamps For Seniors
Kulbida still has bullet fragments lodged in his head and has suffered a loss of hearing, Mack said.
During the shootout, Brown fired 11 rounds at police, Superintendent Garry McCarthy said at a press conference Thursday.
Six hours into the standoff, police stormed into the apartment just before 11:30 p.m. and found Brown hiding in a closet and Daniel Jackson, 42, dead of a single gunshot wound in the chest.
It’s not yet clear who shot Jackson, the boyfriend of Brown’s sister. Even if officers fired the fatal shot, Brown, charged with the murder, can still be convicted under an accountability theory for starting the shootout with police.
The medical examiner found that Jackson had been shot at close range, suggesting Brown may have fired the fatal shot. But additional testing is ongoing, Mack said.
Brown was also charged with attempted murder for shooting Kulbida as well as at an officer who was not injured. He was not charged with shooting a detective who police have said discovered a bullet fragment in his leg a day after the shootout.
Police said they found Brown hiding in a closet armed with a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol equipped with an extended magazine and still loaded with three rounds. The gun was legally bought by Brown’s girlfriend in Indiana in 2012, according to McCarthy, but he suggested the girlfriend may have made the purchase for Brown, a convicted felon.
Brown’s attorneys said he served with the Navy during the first Gulf War and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and bi-polar disorder.