Accused Cop Slayer Claims He Acted in Self-Defense

Photo: The scene outside an Englewood police facility after an officer was shot on July 7, 2010 (top). Officer Thor Soderberg (bottom) and his accused killer, Bryant Brewer, 29.

Opening statements in the bench trial for a man accused of disarming a Chicago police officer and then fatally shooting him got under way Monday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building at 26th and California.

Defense attorney Caroline Glennon argued that Bryant Brewer, now 29, was acting in self-defense when he shot 43-year-old Officer Thor Soderberg outside a police facility as the officer was walking back to his car after finishing his shift on July 7, 2010.

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Glennon alleged the police officer hit Brewer in the head as her client tried scaling a five-foot fence in the parking lot of a police facility in the Englewood neighborhood, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Soderberg’s service weapon dropped to the ground, and Brewer, fearing for his life, grabbed it and shot the police officer to death, Glennon said.

Cook County assistant state’s attorney Brian Sexton told a different story, stating that Soderberg hated police and surprised the officer as he changed out of his uniform and placed his duty belt down, the Tribune said.

Brewer, who witnesses said was singing rap lyrics and yelling “f--- the police” moments before the shooting, grabbed Soderberg’s weapon and shot him the back. When the officer fell to the ground, Brewer fired a shot into the officer’s eye and the top of his head, Sexton argued.

Brewer is also accused of shooting at a handyman and five other police officers.

Glennon said Brewer, who played with his lip and stared into the gallery during Monday’s testimony, suffers from schizophrenia. Sexton argued that Brewer was a sociopath, the paper reported.

Also testifying was Soderberg’s widow, Jennifer Loudon, who described for Judge Timothy Joyce the last time she saw her husband alive.

At the time of his death, Soderberg was participating in a weeklong police operation called Operation Protect Youth. The program was taking place in the Target Response Unit’s facility located at 6120 S. Racine Ave — former Englewood District Station, according to the Chicago Police Department Memorial website.

The bench trial is expected to last two weeks.

Read the full story on the Chicago Tribune