CHICAGO — A man has pleaded guilty in federal court to shooting two federal agents and a task force officer who were conducting a covert investigation in Chicago.
EUGENE MCLAURIN, 31, of Chicago, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of assaulting a federal officer and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence. Each firearm count is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in federal prison and a maximum of life. Each assault count is punishable by up to 20 years. McLaurin has been detained in federal custody since his arrest in 2021. U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah set sentencing for March 13, 2024, at 1:30 p.m.
The shootings occurred on the morning of July 7, 2021, when two agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and an ATF Task Force officer were driving in an unmarked law enforcement vehicle while conducting a covert federal investigation on the South Side of Chicago. McLaurin admitted in a plea agreement that he had mistakenly suspected the officers were members of an opposing gang. After following the officers’ vehicle, McLaurin pulled alongside it as the vehicle reached an on-ramp to the I-57 expressway and fired several shots at the officers. The two agents and task force officer were wounded and suffered serious injuries.
Shortly after the shooting, McLaurin disposed of his handgun in a sewer drain and hid the key to his vehicle in the basement of his residence in order to conceal evidence of his involvement in the shootings.
The guilty plea was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of ATF, and Larry Snelling, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. Valuable assistance was provided by the Illinois State Police. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared Jodrey, Jasmina Vajzovic, and Elizabeth Pozolo.