Chicago police apprehend suspects in murder of officer outside home: source

Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston, 24, was shot and killed outside her South Side home Saturday

Chicago police have apprehended persons of interest in the shooting death of a 24-year-old officer who was killed steps from her mother’s doorstep Saturday morning after finishing a night patrol, according to a law enforcement source.

They were taken into custody after a barricade situation at 76th and Bishop Streets Sunday night, about 5 miles from where Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston was killed, according to the source.

Charges were pending review by the state’s attorney’s office, which has 48 hours to file charges or release the suspects.

A spokesperson for Chicago police said they had no official updates and that the investigation was ongoing, but the department confirmed in a statement that its SWAT team had responded to an address on South Bishop Street around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

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Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston was due to receive a master's degree on Saturday, May 13, 2023. (Areanah Preston/Facebook)

Individuals were taken into custody after an armed standoff there in connection with Preston's murder, FOX 32 Chicago reported, citing another source.

A neighbor of Preston’s told Fox News Digital Monday that Preston lived in the South Blackstone Avenue home with her mother. Despite a wave of violent crime afflicting the city, he said his neighborhood, full of elderly residents and working people, had been spared until Saturday.

"They took a life, a life that didn’t have to be taken," he said. "And whatever they were trying to get, it wasn’t worth it."

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Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston, 24, was fatally shot steps away from her family home after returning from a night tour on Saturday, at around 1:45 a.m., police said. (Areanah Preston/Facebook)

After the shooting, he said, he called a contractor to install a new security system and encircle his house with security cameras.

Preston’s murder came the day before thousands of city police officers marched in the St. Jude Parade in honor of their fallen colleagues.

Preston had served in the Chicago Police Department for three years in the Fifth District, authorities said.

Preston, after working a night shift, returned home around 1:45 a.m. Saturday, according to police. Around that time, police received an alert of shots fired on her block.

Slain Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston was 24 years old. Police say she was gunned down outside her home early Saturday. (Areanah Preston/Facebook)

"Officers responded and found one of our own suffering gunshot wounds," the department's interim superintendent, Eric Carter, said during an emotional news briefing.

A responding officer rendered aid at the scene and rushed her to the University of Chicago Medical Center in the back of a squad car, he said. She succumbed to her injuries at the hospital – the same one where fellow Chicago Police Officer Ella French was taken.

"Right now, we ask that you keep the officer and her family in your prayers, as well as the men and women of the Chicago Police Department, who sacrifice everything, including their lives, on the line for this city every day," Carter said. 

Chicago Police Interim Superintendent Eric Carter delivers a news briefing on the shooting death of Officer Areanah Preston on Saturday, May 6, 2023. (FOX 32 Chicago)

According to the Fraternal Order of Police, she was shot while trying to defend herself from an armed robbery.

According to her Facebook profile, Preston had studied criminal justice and criminology at Illinois State University and gone on to Loyola University in Chicago.

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Slain Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston, 24, was expected to graduate with a master's degree on May 13, 2023, a week after her murder outside her home after she'd just finished a night shift. (FOX 32 Chicago)

The school said in a statement that she was expected to receive her master's degree this weekend.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the shooting "awful and tragic" and said she had instructed police to "spare no expense" in hunting down the suspects.

"There are some who say that our police officers are not worthy of our respect," she said. "There are some who say we should not be supporting and funding our police department. I would urge any person who holds that view to reflect on moments like this."