7-time felon escaped from electronic monitoring, killed a Chicago police officer, and gravely wounded a second cop: officials

A seven-time convicted felon — who is also an active parole absconder and electronic monitoring escapee with cases pending for armed carjacking and armed robbery — is accused of murdering a Chicago police officer and gravely wounding the officer's partner on Saturday morning as they guarded him at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Lincoln Square.

By Tim Hecke

Alphanso Talley, 26, is expected to appear for a detention hearing at the 26th Street courthouse midday on Monday, according to CPD. During the hearing, prosecutors will detail the evidence they believe will show he somehow obtained a firearm while undergoing treatment at the hospital, 5140 North California Avenue, around 10:50 a.m. and used it to kill 10-year CPD veteran John Bartholomew, 38, and leave Bartholomew’s partner, a 57-year-old man with 21 years on the force, in critical condition.
Talley is the fifth person accused of killing or trying to kill someone in Chicago this year while on felony pretrial release. Since CWB Chicago began tracking such data in 2020, people on pretrial release have been charged with murdering two Chicago police officers, one Chicago firefighter, and trying to murder 30 Chicago cops.
Officers had arrested Talley around 8:20 a.m. on suspicion that he was one of two men who had violently robbed the Family Dollar store at 3239 West Lawrence Avenue in Albany Park moments earlier, according to a CPD report. Using a GPS device hidden in the store’s proceeds, cops located him near the 3400 block of North Troy Street and found a wallet belonging to a victim from the store inside a nearby trash can. As Talley had done upon being arrested at least three times since 2017, he claimed to need medical assistance and CPD summoned an ambulance that took him to Swedish Hospital. Endeavor Health, which operates the hospital, said on Twitter that the suspect was wanded with a metal detector upon arrival per the hospital’s public safety weapon detection protocols and that he was escorted by law enforcement at all times. Roughly two hours after they arrived, Talley obtained a firearm — exactly how is not known — shot the officers, then ran from the hospital, officials said. He was arrested shortly after noon in the 2600 block of West Carmen Avenue, according to witnesses. Police recovered a firearm at the scene, a third weapon beyond the officers’ sidearms, CPD Supt. Larry Snelling said on Saturday afternoon.
As CWB Chicago was first to report on Sunday, Talley has been wanted since March 11, when he failed to appear in court for pending armed carjacking and armed robbery cases before Judge John Lyke. He is also listed as an absconder by the Illinois Department of Corrections, meaning he is in violation of the parole he is on for possessing a stolen motor vehicle and aggravated battery of correctional officers at the Cook County jail.
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