City probes earlier police actions after CPD officer fatally shot at Swedish Hospital

A police-custody shooting at a Chicago hospital has turned into two stories at once. One is the killing of Officer John Bartholomew at Swedish Hospital on April 25. The other is the question hanging over everything since — how did Alphanso Talley, already arrested after a violent robbery, still have the gun? That second question is now driving scrutiny inside the city because the answer could expose a failure long before the fatal shots were fired. (cbsnews.com) ### What happened at the hospital? Prosecutors say Talley, 26, had been arrested after a morning robbery at a Family Dollar in Albany Park and taken to Swedish Hospital after telling officers he was struggling to breathe because he had swallowed bags of drugs. At the hospital, his left arm was cuffed to(cbsnews.com)lanket, shot Bartholomew in the head, shot Bartholomew’s partner in the chin, and fled before officers caught him less than 90 minutes later. (news.wttw.com) ### Why are earlier officers under scrutiny? Because arrest records show Talley was searched before he ever got to the hospital. Those records say officers found blood-stained cash in his jeans and jacket pockets and saw blood on his pants and shoes. But they did not find a gun — even though prosecutors say the weapon used at Swedish was the same gun from the earlier robbery. That is the core contradiction. (cbsnews.com) ### What was the earlier crime? Prosecutors say Talley and another person robbed a Family Dollar around 8 a.m. on West Lawrence Avenue. Talley allegedly pistol-whipped a 55-year-old employee, stole her wallet and keys, and took cash from the register before the pair fled on a Lime scooter. Police tracke(cbsnews.com)is pocket after he gave officers a fake name and ID. (nbcchicago.com) ### So where could the gun have been? That is still the unresolved part. Publicly, authorities have not explained how the gun got past the custodial search and into the hospital. One theory aired by police union president John Catanzara was that the weapon may have been hidden in body folds(nbcchicago.com) legal limits. (cbsnews.com) ### Why does the blanket matter? Because prosecutors say surveillance showed Talley fidgeting with his right arm under the blanket while he was being moved for imaging. That detail suggests the gun may already have been with him by then, and the blanket became cover for access rather than the way it entered the room. In plain English — if that timeline holds, the breach happened before the scan, not during it. (news.wttw.com) ### Was Talley fully restrained? No. Prosecutors say one arm was cuffed and the other was free while he was in treatment. That is not unusual in every medical setting — scans and treatment can require movement — but here it has become part of the larger review. The city is effectively asking whether the combination of an incomplete search, hospital transport, and temporary uncuffing created the opening. (news.wttw.com) ### Why is this bigger than one case? Because Bartholomew’s killing now looks less like a freak break and more like a chain-of-custody problem. If a robbery suspect can be searched, transported, handcuffed to a hospital bed, and still produce the same gun later, then the issue is not just one missed detail. It is the handoff between street arrest, evidence handling, medical care, and officer-safety protocol. (cbsnews.com) ### Bottom line The city is not just trying to explain a hospital shooting. It is trying to figure out where the system first failed — on the sidewalk, in the squad car, or inside the ER. Until that answer is clear, Bartholomew’s death will keep raising the same brutal question: the gun was there all along, so why didn’t anyone find it? (cbsnews.com)