$2 million bail for man charged with shooting Chicago police officer in Little Italy

Bail was set at $2 million for a man charged with ambushing a Chicago police officer and shooting him multiple times as he responded to a domestic incident Friday morning in Little Italy.

The officer, a 49-year-old man, was driven to Stroger Hospital where he underwent surgery and was considered to be in “serious but stable” condition, according to police Supt. David Brown.

Jalen Vales, 27, was charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a peace officer, police announced late Friday.

Vales started arguing with his girlfriend Friday morning inside her apartment in the 1300 block of West Taylor Street, prosecutors said in a bond hearing Saturday. The girlfriend feared Vales was going to hurt her and texted her mother to call the police, prosecutors said.

The couple had been dating since March, during which the girlfriend filed six police reports against Vales for domestic violence, according to prosecutors.

The girlfriend was able to come up with a “ruse,” getting Vales out of the apartment and locking the door, leaving Vales outside in the hallway, prosecutors said.

When two police officers arrived at the sixth floor of the apartment building, Vales was hiding around the corner from the elevators, prosecutors said.

As the officers exited the elevator, Vales allegedly shouted, “There go police right there,” and he then “jumped in front of them, pointed a handgun at them, and opened fire multiple times,” prosecutors said.

The officer standing closest to Vales suffered five gunshot wounds, including one to the abdomen right beneath his vest, prosecutors said. He was driven to Stroger Hospital by a police officer from the University of Illinois at Chicago who had also responded to the scene.

The second responding CPD officer, a 32-year-old man, was not hit.

Vales ran from the scene, eventually into a stranger’s apartment, where he grabbed a knife and cut himself, prosecutors said. He then came out and was arrested.

Vales was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he remained as of Saturday morning.

He’d been released on parole in February after serving six years for an unlawful use of a weapon conviction, the fourth felony conviction on his record, prosecutors said.

A judge set bail at $2 million, finding Vales was “a real and present danger to the community.”