A Chicago police officer was killed and his partner left fighting for his life after a prisoner concealed a gun inside Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital and opened fire, triggering a chaotic manhunt across the North Side neighborhood.
Officer John Bartholomew, 38, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was transferred after the shooting Saturday, April 25, 2026. His partner, shot in the face, remains in critical condition. The accused gunman, 26-year-old Alphanso Talley, fled the building before officers cornered and captured him while hiding under a porch a short time later.
How the Ambush Unfolded
Officers had arrested Talley earlier Saturday morning in connection with an armed robbery at a Family Dollar store in the 3200 block of W. Lawrence Avenue, police said. Talley told officers he had swallowed narcotics, and around 9 a.m. they brought him to Swedish Hospital for treatment. Hospital security wanded him upon arrival as part of standard weapon-detection protocols.
Shortly before 11 a.m., as Talley was being prepared for a CT of MRI scan, his clothes were removed but a blanket was kept over him. When his handcuffs were removed for the scan, Talley reached under the blanket, produced a firearm and shot both officers. He then fled the hospital. A Glock 29, a 10mm pistol, was recovered at the scene. Hospital officials said no patients or staff were physically harmed, and the campus was locked down for hours while detectives worked the building.
How a man already in custody — and wanded on entry — smuggled a handgun into a hospital room remains the central question of the investigation.
Charges and a Long Rap Sheet
Prosecutors charged Talley with 20 felony counts, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint, armed robbery, aggravated discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated battery of a peace officer, aggravated battery, escape and unlawful use of a weapon. He had multiple outstanding warrants when officers picked him up Saturday and an extensive criminal history that includes seven felony convictions, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling announced the charges on Monday, April 27. “Though this does not bring solace to this tragedy, it does bring the first step in accountability,” Snelling said.
Talley appeared at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on April 27 and again on April 30. A judge ordered him held in custody. The judge’s blunt assessment echoed in the corridor: “If you are out, you are dangerous.”
A Federal Case Over the Gun
In a parallel filing, federal prosecutors charged an Indiana woman, Olivia Burgos, with making a false statement in the acquisition of a firearm — the Glock 29 recovered at the hospital. Burgos allegedly told ATF investigators she purchased the gun in May 2024 for her boyfriend at the time, a convicted felon barred from possessing firearms. She said she had been given money to make the buy.
According to the federal complaint, Burgos lied on the purchase form about whether the gun was for her, listed the wrong home address and denied any drug addiction. She later told investigators she had been addicted to fentanyl and would not have been sold the weapon had she answered truthfully. Prosecutors did not name the boyfriend, and it remains unclear whether he was Talley.
A Partner Clinging to Life
Bartholomew’s partner, shot in the face, was assigned to the 17th District. Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, who has been blunt about the officer’s condition, said earlier in the week it was “going to take a miracle” for him to survive.
By midweek, Catanzara told the Sun-Times there had been faint, fragile signs of improvement.
The shooting has rattled a department that lost Officer Ella French in a 2021 traffic stop and saw her partner, Carlos Yanez Jr., gravely wounded — a memory that has surfaced repeatedly in the days since Bartholomew’s death.
A Neighborhood in Mourning
Outside the 17th District police station on April 28, mourners left flowers and candles beneath a black-and-blue bunting hung in Bartholomew’s honor. In Edison Park, where Bartholomew lived, neighbors tied blue ribbons down the block. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza was among the public officials offering condolences and calling for reform.
For the Chicago Police Department, the days ahead will be measured in funeral arrangements, hospital vigils and unanswered questions about how a prisoner smuggled a gun past multiple searches and into a hospital. The accountability Snelling spoke of, his colleagues say, is only beginning.