SandyMaloneChicago, IL – Police dashcam video captured a scene of total mayhem as a police chief rammed his patrol vehicle into an SUV full of armed gang members who were part of a funeral procession on Tuesday (video below).
“I disabled the vehicle to eliminate the threat,” Hillside Police Chief Joseph Lukaszek told the Chicago Tribune.
Police said there were multiple shooting scenes in the area on Dec. 5, all related to a funeral service held at Prince of Peace Baptist Church in the South Austin neighborhood, in the 5400-block of West Van Buren Street.
The Chicago Sun-Times said the chaos began with the first shooting at 1 p.m., outside the church.
Then en route west to the burial, there was more shooting from cars in the funeral cortege, and general “highway mayhem,” according to WLS-TV.
Forest Park police alerted Hillside police to the shooting, as the rowdy group drove through the village and got onto the Eisenhower Expressway.
Police said that by the time the procession approached Hillside, callers to 911 were reporting multiple people firing guns from an SUV near the off-ramp for Mannheim Road.
Hillside police officers followed the funeral procession to the Oak Ridge Cemetery, keeping the car carrying the shooters in sight.
Chief Lukaszek said law enforcement decided it would be better to try to apprehend the shooters after the funeral.
When the suspects left the cemetery, police followed them until they determined it was no longer safe.
“I could see a gun in the driver’s hand,” Chief Lukaszek said. “He was holding the gun in one hand, the steering wheel with the other, and I just thought we have to end it.”
Police dashcam video captured the crash as the police chief sped forward in his patrol car and rammed the SUV on the rear driver’s side panel.
The driver of the SUV tried to escape through a Burger King parking lot after the initial impact, but police rammed the truck again.
Video showed that the suspects tried to flee after the second collision, but were captured after a brief chase.
Police arrested four people in connection with the funeral shootings.
The driver of the SUV, Marcus Davis, was charged Wednesday with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, Chief Lukaszek said. Davis, 24, was expected to appear in court Thursday in Maywood.
The other three suspects remained in custody with charges pending, police said.
Investigators found three handguns with high-capacity magazines and high-impact ammunition, Chief Lukaszek said in a statement.
He said that the four people taken into custody had more than 160 arrests on their records between them.
Chief Lukaszek said shootings and craziness have become an almost weekly occurrence at the frequent gang funerals in the suburbs.
Suburban law enforcement recently met with Catholic cemetery officials about the problem of gang-funerals-gone-wild, he said.
“All are having the same issues,” Chief Lukaszek said. “It is out of hand. It’s more of a time to act like a complete fool and not mourn.”
WLS-TV reported that the cemeteries are taking the threat seriously, and police said they have discussed hiring additional police for extra patrols.
Watch video of the gangland funeral procession and its chaotic conclusion below: