CHICAGO – Chicago Police Officer Ella French was murdered 2-1/2 years ago while her partner Carlos Janez Jr. was seriously wounded. Now, the gunman responsible for the grievous crimes has been convicted, according to reports.
Chicago resident Emonte Morgan, 23, was found guilty Tuesday of gunning down Officer French, wounding her partner, Officer Yanez, while also firing at a third officer, Joshua Blas, in August 2021, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
French, who was 29-years-old at the time of her death, and Yanez conducted a traffic stop on an SUV with expired tags when they were fired upon.
While deliberating less than four hours, the jury convicted Morgan of first-degree murder, attempted murder of a peace officer and possession/use of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.
Morgan’s brother, Eric Morgan, pleaded guilty in October to charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, battery and obstruction of justice, reported the New York Post.
In December, a third man, Jamel Danzy of Hammond, Indiana, pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge for completing an illegal straw purchase of the weapon used to kill French. He was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison.
Officer Yanez’s father, Carlos Yanez Sr., is a retired Chicago police officer. In the aftermath of the 2021 shooting, he was vocally critical of then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s sweeping reforms and policy changes that he claimed laid the groundwork for the traffic stop that led to the shooting, Law Officer reported at the time.
Yanez Sr. told the Chicago Sun-Times that he twice told the mayor’s office staff that his son was “not a fan of Lori Lightfoot, to put it mildly” and that the family did not want her at the hospital where he was taken the night of the shooting. When she arrived, a group of about 30 officers turned their backs to her in defiance.
