Eighty-four-year-old Joyce Compton was sitting on her patio Wednesday, as she does most afternoons, when the first police car raced across the lawn of her Glendale Heights apartment complex.
Dozens more followed carrying officers in helmets and shields. One of them shouted at her.
“The guy yelled, ‘Go into your house!’ So I did,” Compton recalled.
Compton said she thought some domestic argument had gotten out of hand but she later learned the officers were arresting Xavier Tate, suspected of killing Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca late last month.
Police were saying little about what led them to Glendale Heights, though Compton said she heard one of Tate’s relatives lived in the complex. “He came back from somewhere, he was out of town and came back here — which was a mistake,” she said.
Tate was taken into custody without incident shortly after 7 p.m., according to Belkis Sandoval, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force. Sources said the slain officer’s own handcuffs were used to detain him.
An arrest warrant for Tate had been issued last week charging him with first-degree murder in the shooting, which occurred early on April 21 in the Gage Park neighborhood as Huesca was coming home from work. He is also facing charges of aggravated vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen firearm. In a statement Thursday, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said it has approved the charges and Tate will appear in court on Friday.
“While we take this critical step, we will continue to gather and analyze further evidence,” the office said. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Officer Huesca and recognize the courage of all our officers. We remain steadfast in our pursuit to ensure that justice is served for Officer Huesca and the city he served.”
Huesca’s family released a statement Thursday thanking authorities “for their tireless efforts. Their relentless dedication fuels our hope for swift justice for Officer Huesca.”
“While no measure of justice can bring Officer Huesca back or fully heal our hearts, we take solace in his enduring legacy of service and bravery. Thank you all for honoring the memory of Officer Luis Huesca,” it said.
Tate had eluded authorities for a week and a half even though his photos were distributed widely by police and a reward of $100,000 was offered. The search took authorities to Wisconsin and Iowa, sources said.
The day after Huesca was killed, Chicago police released a community alert containing surveillance videos of a person wanted for questioning. The alert did not name the person but said he should be “considered armed and dangerous.”
Four days later, police issued an arrest warrant for the person in the alert, identifying him as Xavier Tate and charging him with first-degree murder.
As the warrant was being issued, a fugitive task force was recovering Huesca’s missing service weapon. Officers had arrived at a home in the 10800 block of South Hale Street during the afternoon of April 26 to talk to a woman about Huesca’s killing, authorities said.
A relative of Tate, Caschaus Tate, 20, stopped the officers at the door, then went out a back door and was seen tossing Huesca’s Glock 9 mm pistol over a fence, according to a police report. Tate was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a weapon. He remains in jail.
Huesca had been on the police force for six years and was just two days away from his 31st birthday. He had attended the police academy alongside Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso, who was fatally shot in the line of duty just over a year ago.
Months later, Chicago Police Officer Aréanah Preston was shot to death as she was returning home to Avalon Park after her shift.
After Huesca’s funeral on Monday, Police Supt. Larry Snelling told reporters there had been some “major breaks” in the case but did not release any details. “We will get justice for this family,” he said.
Compton found it hard to believe that the search would end near her apartment. She had just moved to the Glendale Heights complex a few years ago to be closer to her older sister.
“I tell you, if anything more like this happened, I don’t know where I would go,” she said as she smoked and worked on a scratch-off. “I mean, where are you safe anymore?”
