Chicago cop killed after suspect released under SAFE-T Act
We’ve been inundated with news over the last few weeks, and as a result I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of a very fascinating story. Chicago. Let me go into detail about a case that demonstrates dramatic flaws in the system and how Chicago citizens and police are paying a terrible price.
This is the case of 26-year-old Alphanso Talley. His criminal record dates back to his childhood, and the records are sealed. Now he is accused Killing Chicago Police Officer John Bartholomew and seriously injured another. Critics of the law say Talley wouldn’t be on the street if it weren’t for the Illinois SAFE-T Act, which introduced cashless bail in 2021.
Talley had so many pending criminal cases that they overlapped and became confusing. Talley was charged with armed carjacking and robbery in April 2025 in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. Despite the violent nature of the crime, Talley was released pending trial in December 2025 with electronic monitoring.
Cook County District Judge John Lyke Jr., who ordered his release, said at the December hearing: “There is no question that these bails will be set in monetary amounts that he is likely unable to afford.”
Police responded to a shooting incident and booking photo of Alphanso Talley that occurred near Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital in Chicago on Saturday, April 25, 2026.
(AP Images)
Jump forward to March 8, 2026. Talley is accused of slightly violating curfew while on an ankle monitor. He stayed out all night. In fact, he didn’t charge his ankle monitor because he didn’t return home and its battery died. prosecutors say. This prompted an alert to the Cook County Chief Judge’s office, which reported that “the individual’s whereabouts are unknown.” Nobody went and got Talley.
More than 48 hours later, pretrial services notified Judge Lyke that the ankle monitor had malfunctioned and Talley had missed his arraignment. Lyke then signed an arrest warrant. Nobody went and got Talley.
Prosecutors allege that on the morning of Saturday, April 25, 2026, one minute after the Family Dollar store opened, Talley and his alleged accomplice, 18-year-old Jeron Tate, followed cashier Maria Velazquez inside. Velazquez was robbed at gunpoint and beaten so severely with a pistol that his nose was broken. He has bruises on his face, punctuated by a golf ball-sized knot on his head, and he can’t sleep.
“I wake up early in the morning, I go to sleep and I can see your face. I see your face and I can’t sleep,” he said in Spanish. Fox affiliate in Chicago. For obvious reasons, the single mother of three feared for her life. “What would happen to my children if I died? They are still very young and dependent on me.”
Now Velazquez learned that Talley was a frequent visitor to the criminal courts. “They kept letting him out even though they knew he had a criminal history. Why did they release him?he asked. “This would never have happened. The police officer wouldn’t have died.”
Politicians Want You to Pay ‘Cashless Bail’ Fees. It is dangerous and expensive
Talley was captured shortly after the robbery of the Family Dollar and the beating of Velazquez. Police said Talley, no stranger to getting arrested, employed a trick he had used in previous arrests. The indictment appears to show that he claimed that he ate five bags of drugs and had to be hospitalized because he had difficulty breathing. It is not yet known how he got the gun into the hospital. But it was revealed in court that Talley was given some privacy when it came time to take off his pants and put on his hospital gown.
Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said Talley lay under the blanket after the metal handcuffs were removed so a CT scan could be performed. Fatally shot officer John Bartholomew on your face. Bartholomew’s partner was shot in the jaw and remained in critical condition.
Talley stole a hospital staff member’s ID, shot through the hospital’s glass doors and began running nearly naked, with his hospital gown around his neck and electrical monitors still attached to his chest, Pekara said.
Talley was found hiding under a porch and arrested for the second time that day.
On May 1, a hearing began at the Cook County criminal courthouse to decide whether Talley should be held in jail pretrial this time. Family members filled at least two rows in the courtroom, yelling at Talley that they loved him. Talley interacted with them so much that a sheriff’s deputy approached him and warned him to stop “giggling” as Cook County Circuit Judge D’Anthony Thedford opened the criminal investigation into the killing of a police officer.
When the hearing was over and he ordered Talley jailed, I was able to ask John Catanzara, president of the Chicago police union, if Bartholomew would be alive if it weren’t for the SAFE-T Act.
“Yes, it’s just a simple reality,” Catanzara replied. “I mean, he wouldn’t be eligible for parole. He wouldn’t be eligible for electronic monitoring. He would have a cash bond that he couldn’t afford for these extremely violent crimes. So that alone, no cash bail, freed him and gave him the ability to terrorize the street.”
” Electronic monitoring system is broken“Electronic monitoring is not an alternative to detention. It does not keep people safe,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke.
Governor of Illinois J.B. PritzkerA proponent of the SAFE-T Act denounced Judge Lyke without naming him. “In most cases where Republicans have complained about the SAFE-T Act, it was actually a bad decision by an elected judge,” Pritzker said. “A judge should have made the decision to keep this person in prison.”
Calling incarceration a “disease,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson returned to a familiar refrain against locking up criminals. “Look, we have a dependence about prisons and incarcerations. More people are incarcerated in our country than anywhere else in the world. But we still have illegal guns on our streets and a lack of mental health support,” Johnson said.
“It is a disease and addiction that will go away in less than a year,” Catanzara replied. “And it can’t come soon enough. I didn’t think it could get any worse [Former Chicago Mayor Lori] Lightfoot, but we have become more stupid, more racist and more ignorant.”
Police respond to a shooting at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital in Chicago on April 25, 2026.
“A mayor of the City of Chicago says he doesn’t think this person should be incarcerated,” Chicago said. Councilor James Gardiner in question. “He’s an embarrassment.”
Click Here to Download Fox News App
This is not an isolated incident. Lawrence Reed is a lifelong felon on an ankle monitor. He also ignored the curfew on his monitor. Court records show he was out all night twice before Nov. 17, 2025. That night, he violated curfew once again and boarded Chicago’s Blue Line train. I set Bethany MaGee on fire, police say. Reed faces both state and federal charges.
Nearly 1,000 people in Chicago are currently enrolled in Cook County’s problematic electronic monitoring program, Councilman Anthony Napolitano said. “Empty prison cells cannot thrive in an environment where officers are constantly attacked and shot, and citizens are constantly attacked.”
Original article source: Reporter’s Notebook: Chicago cop killed after suspect released under SAFE-T Act
