'I Did Something Bad,' Accused Cop Killer Said After Fleeing Slayings: Prosecutor

CHICAGO — Moments after Darion McMillian, 23, fatally shot Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez and one of his own companions, prosecutors said that McMillian entered a nearby apartment, where he told a woman that he "did something."

These and other new details came to light at the detention hearing Thursday afternoon for McMillian, accused of fatally shooting a Chicago police officer and a companion with a gun outfitted to be a "fully automatic machine gun." McMillian had been on electronic monitoring tied to charges out of Will County at the time of the killings.

McMillian appeared before Cook County Judge Deidra Dyer at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on felony charges of first-degree murder of a peace officer, first-degree murder, attempted murder of a peace officer, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and residential burglary.

>>> Officer's Slaying: Felon On Electronic Monitoring Charged With Murder

Around 8 p.m. Monday, Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez and his partner responded to a separate call in the South Side Gresham neighborhood that turned about to be false, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord said.

As the officers were leaving the neighborhood, they saw a black Ford Escape double-parked on the 8000 block of West Ingleside Avenue, with temporary fraudulent Wisconsin plates and an inoperable tail light. Martinez approached the vehicle from the driver’s side, while his partner approached the passenger side.

Three people were inside the vehicle, which, in addition to McMillian, included the driver and a person asleep in the back seat.

>>> 'Courageous Hero' Officer Enrique Martinez Killed In Line Of Duty: CPD

McMillian was holding a backpack near his chest. He put the bag on the front seat floorboard and began reaching inside the bag, the prosecutor said. The officers began yelling at him to stop reaching.

Martinez withdrew his firearm, and with the driver’s side door open, McMillian pulled out a .40 caliber handgun equipped with a switch, and fired numerous times at the police officer, the prosecutor said.

The driver, who was still in the driver’s seat, sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the head and face. The prosecutor said McMillian shoved his companion out of the vehicle and climbed into the driver’s seat.

Officials said another assisting officer tried to grab McMillian’s Blackhawks jersey. The officer fell to the ground and accidentally discharged a round from his service weapon. McMillian threw the vehicle in reverse and sped backwards down Ingleside with the driver’s side door still open, the prosecutor said.

McMillan hit a parked car, severely bending the door before hitting another parked car, at which time he got out of the vehicle and started running, according to the complaint.

Surveillance cameras captured McMillian after he fled the vehicle, pulling a white T-shirt over his head while walking down the sidewalk. The prosecutor said he entered through the rear door of a building and into the apartment, where a woman who lived there saw him enter the kitchen.

McMillian opened a drawer and grabbed a knife to cut the electronic monitoring bracelet off his ankle, the prosecutor said.

According to the witness, prosecutors said McMillian told her "he did something bad" and needed a sharper knife. He then grabbed a butter knife and cutting knife before leaving the residence.

The woman, who was not injured, called 911.

Surveillance cameras continued tracking McMillian leaving the residence into a backyard, then reappearing again where he jumped a fence, the prosecutor said. A minute later, he was seen again running through an alley before emerging on the 8800 block of South Maryland Avenue, where the prosecutor said he was apprehended by police 10 minutes after the shooting.

The backseat passenger in the Ford Escape was also taken into custody but was released on Tuesday without being charged.

Police officers rushed Martinez to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased. The driver of the Ford Escape was pronounced dead at the scene.

McMillian was brought back to the scene of the shooting, where he was positively identified by police officers, the prosecutor said. A handgun was recovered from the deceased driver’s waistband.

Police also found a .40 caliber gun with an extended magazine. Fourteen shell casings were also found. The prosecutor said that a ballistics test showed a match to McMillian’s gun.

The prosecutor told the judge that McMillian has two pending cases out of Will County, including a 2023 manufacture/delivery charge for cannabis, and served a two-day sentence in DuPage County for a misdemeanor charge of attempted aggravated fleeing and eluding.

In 2024, McMillian was accused of trying to defeat a drug screen in Will County and was placed on electronic monitoring.

McMillian was also convicted of discharging a firearm in 2014 in Will County and served a four-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Records show he was released on parole in July.

In 2020, he and four other Will County jail inmates were also accused of attacking and beating another inmate. Will County jail records from his Oct. 15 booking list him as living in Bolingbrook.

"The level of danger this person poses to every single person in the community … is beyond measure," the prosecutor said.

The courtroom was packed with 6th District police officers, members of the Martinez family and former police officer Carlos Yanez, who was seriously wounded in 2021, during a shooting in West Englewood that left his partner, Ella French, dead, the Chicago Tribune reported.

McMillan was ordered detained in Cook County Jail.

"You are on electronic monitoring for something far less serious than murder, and you were not complying with it, not by a long shot," Dyer said.

Martinez is the fifth Chicago police officer to be killed in the line of duty in the past four years.