Local law enforcement leaders gathered Thursday morning to announce charges in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Cook County sheriff’s deputy on the South Side earlier this week.
Cordarrow Thompson, 32, was charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, attempted armed robbery and one count of armed habitual criminal in the early Tuesday shooting death of Rafael Wordlaw, according to Cook County court records. A Cook County judge ordered Thompson detained pending trial during his first court appearance Thursday.
Wordlaw, 31, was off-duty when he was fatally shot during a robbery attempt-turned-shootout at a gas station in the 500 block of East 67th Street, authorities said. A friend of Wordlaw’s, traveling in a separate vehicle but also at the gas station, suffered two graze wounds.
“This was an individual who dedicated his life to public service,” Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling said at a news conference to announce the charges. “There are people across the city who are dealing with the same type of losses. It’s senseless and it’s got to stop.”
“We honor Deputy Wordlaw by bringing his killer to justice,” Snelling added.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart praised the interagency work that led to the charges being filed, and called Wordlaw “a true public servant” and “somebody who was always there for everybody else.”
“How in God’s name do we have someone firing off 69 rounds?” Dart asked rhetorically. “We have to do much better.”
Antoinette Ursitti, CPD’s chief of detectives, said Thursday that Thompson fired approximately 69 bullets from two guns during the robbery attempt. Neither weapon was recovered by police, though investigators believe at least one of the guns was equipped with a switch — a small device that allows for a semiautomatic handgun to fire multiple rounds with a single trigger pull.
Prosecutors on Thursday said Wordlaw was seated in his vehicle as his friend was pumping gas. That’s when Thompson allegedly approached Wordlaw’s friend and announced a robbery.
Wordlaw opened his vehicle door and fired a shot before Thompson returned fire, prosecutors said, and one of those bullets likely struck Wordlaw’s gun, rendering it useless.
Wordlaw’s single shot struck Thompson in the leg, authorities said. The off-duty deputy was shot in the chest, though he was able to drive a short distance from the crime scene before crashing. He was pronounced dead soon after.
More Top Picks Best Bed Cooling Systems For Hot Sleepers
After the shooting, Ursitti alleged, Thompson went to Insight Hospital in Bronzeville for treatment, though he gave false information to responding CPD officers. He then took a rideshare to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, she said, where he again gave bogus details of the shooting, and he was taken into police custody.
Prosecutors said Thompson has three prior gun-related felony convictions, each resulting in multiyear prison sentences. Thompson was discharged from mandatory supervised release in January 2024, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said Thursday.