Man Accused of Attempted Murder of Chicago Police Officers Arrested After Fleeing
A man accused of trying to kill two Chicago police officers is back behind bars after allegedly cutting off his ankle monitor and forcing a U.S. Marshals task force to use tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and a police dog to flush him out of hiding.
Shaquille Parker, 32, was initially held on $10 million bail after prosecutors said he fired a gun at two uniformed officers who tried to stop him for a suspected drug deal in August 2023. One officer returned fire, striking Parker in the side. Prosecutors said body camera video, ballistics testing, and Parker’s own hospital admission justify the attempted murder charges.
Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Judge Laura Ayala-Gonzalez decided to release Parker on an ankle monitor in September 2024 after his attorney argued that he deserved release under the SAFE-T Act’s no-cash-bail provisions.
The lawyer claimed Parker was experiencing serious, ongoing medical issues related to his gunshot injury. They also claimed that other inmates held Parker hostage in a Cook County jail bathroom where he was beaten, kicked, and stabbed because his wife would not transfer $1,500 to an outside bank account.
Ayala-Gonzalez’s decision unraveled on June 16 when, according to authorities, Parker cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared.
“While on free movement he cut off his ankle monitor and tossed it into a dumpster in south suburban Riverdale,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson explained on Thursday.
One month after he went AWOL, on July 15, a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force found Parker outside a home in the 9500 block of South Martin Luther King Drive. When officers moved in, Parker allegedly ran back into the home and hid in a crawl space.
“They had to deploy a canine unit after flash bangs and canisters didn’t work, so a dog had to be deployed to finally coax [the] defendant out of his hole,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Rusch said the next day.
Weapons were allegedly found in the room where Parker had been staying—a serious violation of his pretrial release terms.
After his re-arrest, Parker’s attorney argued that he had attended all of his court dates for nine months and only left his assigned home after being attacked and threatened.
“He tried to call his public defender… to let her know that he wanted to change host sites and felt unsafe with the monitoring band on him,” said Assistant Public Defender Jessica Becker. “That is one month compared to nine months of consistent and reliable appearance in court.”
Rusch countered that Parker was scheduled to appear in court two days after he cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared. So, he argued, not only did Parker miss a court date, but he could have had his residency concerns addressed at that hearing.
Judge Deidre Dyer was not persuaded by the defense argument, either.
“You don’t get to decide which court dates when it becomes too much,” she told Parker. “There were a number of opportunities and points along the way that you demonstrated you were not willing to comply with the Court’s order.”
She also rejected Becker’s argument that Parker was not trying to avoid prosecution, just trying to stay safe.
“You were found not attached to your device,” Dyer said. “When they went to arrest you… It took a lot of effort. You did not go quietly or peacefully, needless to say. They had to employ all kinds of extraordinary measures to take you into custody.”
The judge ordered Parker detained pending trial on the escape charge and allowed prosecutors to file a petition to revoke his pretrial release in the attempted murder case. He also faces a new misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.
Regarding Parker’s allegations of being attacked and held for ransom inside the Cook County jail, the sheriff’s office spokesperson said he did not cooperate with their investigation of the incident.
“On August 27, 2024, correctional officers responded to an incident in Division 9 involving three individuals in custody,” the spokesperson said Thursday. “Shaquille Parker was one of the individuals involved in that incident and was escorted off the tier and received treatment for minor injuries. The two other individuals involved were disciplined administratively for the incident, and Sheriff’s Office investigators opened a separate criminal investigation in order to find out what actually happened. Neither Parker nor anyone else would cooperate in the investigation, and Parker would not agree to be interviewed.”
Sourcing: This report is based on official court transcripts of detention hearings conducted in 2023 and 2025, purchased through the generosity of CWBChicago readers like you.
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