Staff And Patients Hid From Man Accused Of Shooting Cops At Swedish Covenant: Prosecutor

CHICAGO—Patients and staff hid in the hallways and barricaded themselves in exam rooms at Swedish Hospital last weekend when they heard gunfire ring out as new details emerged during the court hearing for the man accused of shooting two Chicago police officers.

Alphanse Talley, 26, appeared Thursday before Cook County Judge D’Anthony Thedford on charges of first-degree murder of a peace officer, attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer, aggravated battery with a firearm, armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated discharge of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm by a repeat felon and escape.

Nowhere in the court documents provided to Patch does it mention Talley being searched for a weapon before he withdrew a gun from under a blanket and fatally shot CPD Officer John Bartholomew, 38. The officer’s 57-year-old partner was also critically wounded. The two officers were guarding Talley as he was being prepared for a CT scan.

The events of April 25 unfolded just after 8 a.m., when private and POD cameras captured Talley and an unknown accomplice riding down Lawrence Avenue on rented electric scooters.

An employee had just opened a dollar store in the 3200 block of Lawrence Avenue in the Albany Park neighborhood when the prosecutor said Talley and his accomplice both entered the store. They quickly took over and allegedly pistol-whipped the employee while they rifled through her purse and eventually got her to open the register. Both fled with $110, the prosecutor said, shedding their masks as they rode away on their scooters.

Talley and his pal were tracked on multiple surveillance cameras as they fled. Unknown to Tally, the stolen money had a GPS tracker, the prosecutor said. Less than ten minutes after the robbery, Talley was seen on video dumping the scooter in the 3400 block of North Troy. He was also seen dropping something into a garbage can.

Officers touring the area saw a man matching the description given by the dollar store employee. When officers initially approached him, the prosecutor said Talley was on the phone and claimed to be calling Uber. Talley is then alleged to have provided the cops with a fake ID and name. From the same garbage can where Talley was seen on surveillance video dumping an item, officers recovered the dollar store employee's wallet. She was brought to the scene where she identified Talley by his clothing, the prosecutor said.

Talley was taken into custody, where officers said they found bloodstained cash in his pocket, and there was blood on his pants and shoes. The dollar store employee was taken to the hospital, where she was treated for a broken nose and two black eyes.

He was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a police vehicle. The squad camera captured Talley fidgeting, as if manipulating an object behind his back, according to court documents. Talley then complained of an object in his shoe and told officers that he swallowed five bags of drugs and was having problems breathing, the prosecutor said. Officers requested an ambulance.

When EMS arrived, the prosecutor said Talley repeated he had swallowed drugs and couldn’t feel his legs. He was buckled onto a stretcher for transport to Swedish Hospital, where he was escorted by Bartholomew and his partner. Talley was handcuffed by his left arm to the bedrail. He was assisted by a nurse who gave him a hospital gown when the prosecutor said Talley asked to keep his pants on. The prosecutor said another nurse as well as the officers allowed Talley privacy so he could remove his pants while still handcuffed.

The prosecutor said Talley was still cuffed when a transport technician came to wheel him to the exam room. He was allowed to wear the gown and blanket when being moved. Hospital surveillance video showed his left arm still cuffed to the bed, and his right hand fidgeting under the blanket.

The prosecutor said the CT technician was already in the room when Talley arrived. As Bartholomew removed Talley’s handcuff and ankle shackles, Talley allegedly reached under the blanket and pulled out a 10 mm Glock, shooting Bartholomew in the head. The hospital staff ran out of the room when the prosecutor said Talley aimed at Bartholomew’s partner and pulled the trigger.

An MRI technician heard a loud bang and claimed that she saw Talley shooting the police officers. She used her ID badge to gain access to an adjoining room to hide from the shooter, the prosecutor said. Talley was allegedly seen on hospital security video pointing his gun at the room where the MRI technician was hiding. When she did not open the door, Talley left the area. He was captured on hospital surveillance video holding his hospital gown and gun.

As patients were trying to hide in nearby hallways, the prosecutor said Talley went through a set of double doors in an attempt to escape. Two building engineers who heard a fire alarm go off were making their way to the CT room. They encountered Talley in the hall, who pointed his gun at them and ripped off one of their ID badges, the prosecutor said.

Talley used the ID badge to exit the hallway and head toward the exit out of the hospital. He arrived at the employee entrance glass doors just as a patient care technician was arriving from the outside.

Unaware of what happened, the hospital worker observed a naked patient attempting to open the glass door but unable to do so. The prosecutor said Talley shot through the glass door as the employee was standing on the opposite side of it. Talley then chased the employee, the prosecutor said, demanding the employee give him his car keys. Talley is also alleged to have approached a postal worker in a postal van, who quickly drove away as Talley chased after him, still holding his hospital gown.

Private security cameras captured Talley running naked through the neighborhood with electrodes attached to his skin, carrying his gun and hospital gown. An hour and twenty minutes later, police found Talley a few blocks away hiding under a porch in the 3200 block of West Carmen, the prosecutor said. Officers recovered the Glock at the scene.

Preliminary ballistics tests tied the two shell casings recovered at the hospital to the 10 mm Glock.

When police encountered Talley after the dollar store armed robbery, the prosecutor said he was trying to call an Uber from an account belonging to a woman friend. She was able to identify his “favorite jeans” from the surveillance video. The Lime rental scooters were also traced to Talley’s Gmail address.

After the hearing, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara surmised that Talley may have hidden the gun in a “fat fold.”

“Nobody knows if it was tucked in a fat fold or if it was tucked inside his body. I don’t know if we’ll ever have that answer,” Catanzara told WGN News. “The reality was if it was inside his body, no amount of searches would have found that without a full cavity search…there is, within the police department, a reluctance to be as aggressive or thorough as we have in the past with searches because of complaints.”

Bartholomew succumbed to his gunshot wound. His partner was shot through the chin, which lodged in the back of his neck, the prosecutor told the judge.

“It is clear that you pose a real and present threat to any person you are around,” Thedford told Talley. “If you are out, you are dangerous.”

The seven-time felon was ordered detained pending trial for his dozens of charges related to the armed robbery and the shooting of Bartholomew and his colleague.