By Sophie Mann

Updated:August 10, 2021

-Just The News

 

Federal prosecutors have charged an Indiana man with purchasing and illegally supplying the semi-automatic handgun used to kill Chicago police officer Ella French, 29, over the weekend.

Jamel Danzy, 29, has been accused of buying the weapon from a licensed dealer in Indiana and then providing it to an Illinois resident who could not buy or possess guns due to a felony conviction. The individual who received the gun was in the vehicle from which two officers were shot Saturday night during a traffic stop, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago.

French became the first female officer fatally shot in the line of duty in 33 years in Chicago. French’s partner remains in the hospital in critical condition

Danzy is currently being held until at least Wednesday for a detention hearing.

The city of Chicago is in a perpetual fight to stem the flow of illegal guns that fuel its consistently high murder rate.

Police Superintendent David Brown says the department is still trying to understand why the vehicle was stopped Saturday night or what happened immediately prior to the shooting. Body camera footage is currently being reviewed.

c. JUST THE NEWS