Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

‘That Was My Work’: Teens With Extensive Criminal Histories Charged With Murdering Chicago Cop

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A Cook County judge denied bail to four teenagers with substantial criminal records on Wednesday after they were charged for allegedly murdering Chicago police officer Aréanah Preston, according to media reports.

Joseph Brooks and Jakwon Buchanan, 18, 19-year-old Trevell Breeland and 16-year-old Jaylen Frazier are accused of robbing five other people, stealing a Kia vehicle and robbing and killing Preston Friday night as she was coming home from work in uniform, Chicago Sun-Times reported. Frazier was first arrested when he was 13, while the other three were arrested for the first time at 14, according to Chicago’s CBS 2.

Frazier claimed credit for the fatal shooting in a phone call with a friend, the Sun-Times reported.

“Any time you can shoot somebody and say, ‘That was my work,’ what kind of human would say that about another human being?” Preston’s mother Dionne Mhoon said of Frazier following the Wednesday bond hearing, according to the outlet. The 16-year-old reportedly told police he was inside the Kia when Brooks, Buchanan and Breeland shot Preston, and then burned the vehicle afterward.

Frazier had been arrested on multiple occasions for armed robbery, weapons crimes and car theft while on probation following his first arrest, CBS 2 reported. Breeland was on probation when Preston was killed, and he previously pushed his mother down stairs and assaulted a teacher.

Authorities had put forward a juvenile arrest warrant for Buchanan last November due to a 2019 robbery and a carjacking that occurred when he was on probation, CBS 2 reported. Police arrested Brooks nine times since 2019, and he has previously been charged with armed robbery, theft and stealing a car under probation.

Interim Chicago Police Superintendent Eric Carter said Taylor “wanted to help create a better future for Chicago, but the incomprehensible actions of four offenders took that future from her,” the Sun-Times reported.

“Though Aréanah’s not physically here with us, her spirit of service and kindness will forever carry on and we will never forget it,” Carter said, according to the outlet.

The Chicago Police Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.