Arrests made in slaying of off-duty Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston
Two days after off-duty Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston was gunned down not long after leaving work, police sources said progress was being made in the investigation of the killing of a young woman described by those who knew her as a rising star dedicated to her field.
Preston’s slaying came during a time of transition in her department and in the city, as both Chicago’s outgoing and incoming mayors offered support to her family.
At least five people were in custody Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of Preston, who was killed early Saturday on the South Side, according to police sources with knowledge of the investigation.
Five “persons of interest,” including two females, were taken into custody after an hourslong standoff with police in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, one source familiar with the situation said.
No one was charged Monday. Investigators believe the group was involved in the fatal shooting of the 24-year-old Preston, sources said, who was killed outside her home early Saturday after finishing her shift in the Police Department’s Calumet District on the Far South Side.
Representatives for the Police Department would not comment on the arrests Monday. Sources said the group was known to police.
A department spokesperson, however, said the CPD had classified Preston’s as a line-of-duty death, which entitles her family to financial assistance from the state.
A responding officer found Preston lying outside and she was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, authorities have said.
Preston, who lived in Avalon Park, worked for the CPD for only three years before her death, according to department officials.
She had earned a master’s degree in child and family law from Loyola University Chicago, according to her LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. She graduated in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and law enforcement administration from Illinois State University, according to the sites.
Her family called her “happy” and “intelligent.”
“She was all of that and more,” Preston’s grandfather told the Tribune over the weekend. “I can’t speak about her without breaking up.”
Both outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson issued statements over the weekend pledging support for Preston’s family. Johnson called the slaying a “profound tragedy.”
Police did not give a possible motive for the shooting Monday, though it was being investigated as a possible robbery that took a violent turn.
In a social media post, one of Preston’s friends remembered her as a “humble, dedicated, helpful, sophisticated soul.” Another remembered her as “the life of everything.”
A former professor of Preston’s at ISU, criminal justice scientist Charles Bell, said he met the young woman as a student. She attended a panel that included formerly incarcerated individuals and was in a class Bell teaches on “Race, Ethnicity and Criminal Justice.”
“She understands the intimate details about what is happening in the community, some of the challenges that are impacting policing and mass incarceration,” he told the Tribune. “She was very vocal about that and sharing it with the class and deeply passionate about making a difference.”
The Police Department suffered a similar tragedy earlier this year when Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso was shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic-related call in Gage Park. In that case, Steven Montano, 18, of the 2500 block of South Lawndale Avenue, was charged with first-degree murder, weapons charges and interfering with a domestic violence report. The case is pending.
Chicago Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner contributed.
