Brothers Emonte Morgan and Eric Morgan charged in death of Chicago officer Ella French

Publish date: 2024-05-22

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A pair of tattooed brothers were arrested for the fatal shooting of a 29-year old Chicago police officer over the weekend, cops said Monday.

Emonte Morgan, 21, was busted on charges of first-degree murder for killing Officer Ella French on Saturday night. His brother Eric Morgan, 22, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and obstruction of justice, according to the Chicago Police Department. 

The brothers and a third woman were stopped by French and her partner around 9 p.m. Saturday.

Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the vehicle, police said. Officers returned fire, injuring one of the vehicle’s occupants. Police did not give a reason for the traffic stop.

“This is the first step towards justice as we work to honor our fallen officer and her partner,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said at a press conference Monday evening.

French’s partner was taken to the hospital with serious gunshot wounds but is “improving incrementally,” Brown said.

Chicago Police Officer Ella French was shot and killed during a traffic stop on August 7, 2021.

The young woman in the car with the brothers has not been charged, due to lack of evidence, he said.

The gun used “was the product of a straw purchase,” Brown said, and was illegally purchased through an Indiana man, Jamel Danzy, 29, who purchased it legally in Hammond, Indiana, and knowingly provided it to another individual in Chicago who was not permitted to own firearms, Brown said. 

Danzy was charged by federal authorities Monday.

Brown said traffic stops like Saturday’s are beneficial for keeping guns off the streets. This year alone, he said, 7,536 guns have been recovered by CPD, a 23 percent increase from the same period last year.

“But for the brave conduct of our police officers trying to protect the people of Chicago and recovering an illegally possessed gun, what ended up being an illegally bought gun, but for these types of traffic stops our cities wouldn’t be safe. 

Police at the scene where Officer Ella French was shot and killed in Chicago on August 7, 2021. Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP
Chicago police officers salute as an ambulance carrying Ella French’s body arrives at the Cook County medical examiner’s office on August 8, 2021. Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP

“Criminals with illegal guns are driving [up] crime here and everywhere in this country. And officers put themselves in harm’s way stopping suspects like this so that we can all sleep safely in our homes at night.”

French is the first Chicago police officer killed since Lori Lightfoot became mayor of the city in 2019, but the city’s cops have faced a surge of gunfire in the past two years.

Chicago Police Officer Ella French Chicago PD

In total, 11 people were killed and 73 were shot across the city over the weekend, Chicago police said.

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