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Posted: Wednesday, 27 January 2010 2:19PM
Man gets 35 years for shooting at Evanston police
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EVANSTON (STMW) -- A 20-year-old Evanston man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for firing a sawed-off shotgun at a police officer in the near north suburb in the summer of 2008.
About 2:55 a.m. on July 29th 2008, Evanston police officers responded to a call of a disturbance with a large group on the street on the 1800 block of Brown, according to a release from Evanston police.
One of the responding officers saw two people engaged in a verbal argument, which appeared to be escalating into a physical confrontation, police said. This officer then sought to intervene and shined his flashlight at the two.
Upon being illuminated one of the men grabbed his waistband and crouched over, in what appeared to be an effort to conceal something, according to police. Noting this suspicious action the officer began to approach the man, who upon observing the officer, took off running. The officer then gave several verbal commands to the man, which were ignored, and the officer began to pursue him on foot.
The officer was still pursuing this man when the man turned and faced the officer then fired two shots from a sawed-off shotgun, narrowly missing the officer, and striking an adjacent structure. The officer then took cover while the offender continued to flee on foot. Immediately, assist officers responded and recovered the shotgun, which had been dropped by the shooter during his flight. Officers conducted a canvas of the area, but were not able to locate the offender.
Numerous witness interviews were conducted and area police departments were notified. These efforts produced a person of interest identified as Antoine Bouzi, who on August 3, 2008 was arrested in Chicago and turned over to the Evanston police department for further investigation. Additional investigative efforts resulted in the Evanston police department contacting the Cook County State Attorney's office, who then assisted in interviews and reviewed the case in its entirety. This review resulted in Bouzi being charged with the attempted murder of the Evanston police officer, as well as other related charges.
On February 27, 2009, Cook County Presiding Judge Garritt Howard, in a bench trial, found Bouzi guilty of attempted first degree murder of a peace officer and other related charges.
Bouzi was found guilty of one count of attempted first degree murder of a peace officer, one count of attempted first degree murder, one count of aggravated assault to a police officer, three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm at a peace officer.
Sentencing was set for March 20th 2009 and the state's attorney's office made their final argument on Jan. 14 of this year, which is when the presiding judge sentenced Bouzi to 35 years in prison on two concurrent counts; one of attempted murder of a police officer and aggravated discharge of a firearm at a police officer, the release said.
Bouzi will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence, according to police.
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