Mississippi murder suspect barricades himself in Chicago restaurant
A man suspected of murder in Mississippi barricaded himself in a restaurant on Chicago’s West Side on Tuesday afternoon. The SWAT team surrounded the Seafood Junction Fresh Market on the Near West Side overnight.
CHICAGO – A man who escaped from a Mississippi courthouse and is wanted for murder and armed robbery is in a standoff with police at a restaurant on the Near West Side, blocks from the Democratic National Convention.
Justin Zimmerman has been wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service since his escape in June and was located at the Chicago restaurant on Tuesday, according to Justin Smith, chief deputy of the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi.
The U.S. Marshals Service said Zimmerman fled the district court in Hernando, Mississippi, where he was being held on attempted murder and armed robbery charges. He is also awaiting extradition to Houston, Texas, where he faces murder charges, the Marshals Service said.
It was not immediately clear how authorities tracked Zimmerman to Chicago, and there was no evidence of a connection to the Democratic National Convention. However, he is believed to be hiding out at Seafood Junction on the corner of Madison and Western, about a half-mile from Chicago’s United Center, where the convention is being held.
Chicago police said the SWAT team had been on site since 4 a.m.
Smith said Zimmerman had “barricaded himself in the restaurant” and authorities wanted to return him to Mississippi and “gather the remaining facts about his escape.”
