A 22-year-old Chicago man was arrested after a 10-day manhunt following the particularly gruesome murder of police officer, Luis Huesca, in the early hours of April 21 in Gage Park.
Xavier Tate Jr has risen to public prominence after his gruesome act of taking out a police officer.
That Police Officer, Luis Huesca had just completed a shift patrolling his neighborhood and was getting ready to head home when he ran into trouble.
Unbeknownst to him, a criminal had apparently decided to ambush him at that very moment.
Xavier had been milling aimlessly around in the neighborhood during the early hours of that fateful day of April 21 when he came upon Huesca.
For reasons best known to himself, Tate Jr shot Huesca 10 times in his head, chest, arms, and thighs as he was parking his vehicle.
After shooting the officer, Tate Jr stole his car and ditched it at a different location, before plotting his escape and going on the run from cops.
After 10 days in hiding, he was arrested by authorities and is currently facing charges of first-degree murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking, and possession of a stolen firearm.
Officers discovered Huesca’s dead body after responding to a ShotSpotter alert at 2:53 a.m. near West 56th Street and South Kedzie Avenue.
For a brief moment, everyone thought he would pull through as he had incredibly, yet to succumb to his massive number of injuries.
He was rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center but fate had different plans as he just could not survive those ten shots.
Huesca was pronounced dead at the hospital.
He is survived by his wife, Edith, and son Emiliano Jr.
The night of the shooting
Police did not take long to develop Xavier as a suspect and issued a warrant for his arrest.
In a statement, Chicago police said: “An arrest warrant was issued for Xavier L. Tate on April 26th, 2024 for the murder of Chicago Police Officer Luis M. Huesca.
“CPD is seeking information that will lead to the apprehension of the suspect.
Tate has been declared armed and dangerous and the public warned not to approach him if spotted.
In an impressive bit of police work, CPD combed through hours and hours of surveillance footage of the fateful night and developed a timeline of what exactly went down in the shooting.
Prior to his cowardly shooting of officer Huesca, Tate Jr had been aimlessly moving around for hours in the neighbourhood.
He was captured on multiple surveillance cameras, going in and out of convenience stores and buying mostly water and gum.
He also changed outfits multiple times.
Tate Jr walked around for hours in the dead of night for no discernible reason.
Around 3 a.m., Tate finally sprung into action when officer Huesca drove past him to park in his driveway.
Huesca was probably at his most vulnerable at that time, having relaxed his senses upon going off duty and now almost about to enjoy the warmth of his home – he never stood a chance.
Tate approached from the driver’s side of the door and fired 10 rounds into the car.
After the shooting, he stole both the car and Huesca’s service weapon and fled with them.
He ditched the car and weapon later after attempting to file down the serial number on the gun.
DNA evidence found at the scene of the crime implicated him and police started their manhunt which ended 10 days later in Glendale Heights.
In his attempts to escape being captured, Tate traveled to Wisconsin, Iowa and Rockford, Illinois between April 21st and May 2nd, when he was finally captured.
The tragic story of Officer Huesca highlights once again the dangers law enforcement officials face in their jobs.
Even when off-duty, the danger never goes away and Huesca tragically found that out on the night of his murder.
One can only hope that the law truly deals with Tate Jr to its fullest extent and that he’s never given the opportunity to come out and hurt anyone again.
That’s the least that can be done for the family of Officer Huesca, who have lost their guardian, protector and provider.
May he rest in perfect peace.