Alleged gunman’s attorney says he didn’t know Paul Bauer was an officer before firing

Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer | Provided

“It was a tragedy, but Cmdr. Bauer brought it on himself,” defense attorney Scott Kamin told Cook County jurors Tuesday. Prosecutors disagreed. “He knew he [Shomari Legghette] was a police officer trying to arrest him. And he killed him for it,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Lanier.

Shomari Legghette was a “street hustler” who had headed into the Loop two years ago to have lunch with a female acquaintance, wearing the the body armor and pistol that were tools of his trade as an occasional drug dealer, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Setting up a self-defense case in the fatal shooting of Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer, defense attorney Scott Kamin said Legghette had no idea Bauer — who was wearing a dark coat over his full uniform — was a police officer as the two men struggled and fell into a stairwell near the Thompson Center. As 53-year-old Bauer wrapped Legghette in a chokehold on a landing, Legghette drew his own gun and fired multiple times at the officer that afternoon in February 2018, Kamin said.

“It was a tragedy, but Cmdr. Bauer brought it on himself,” Kamin told Cook County jurors in his opening statement in a courtroom packed with stone-faced police officers. “He had no signs that indicated he was a cop... What Mr. Legghette did in firing on this guy... was entirely reasonable.”

Legghette may take the stand during the trial to discuss the fateful final seconds of his struggle with Bauer, a 31-year police veteran who had been downtown for a City Hall briefing when he heard a radio call from officers who were tailing Legghette after spotting him preparing to urinate on a column on Lower Wacker Drive.

Bauer’s last moments in the stairwell weren’t seen by witnesses or captured on surveillance cameras.

But Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Lanier pointed out that bystanders outside the Thompson Center saw Legghette struggle with Bauer at street-level.

“[Bauer and Legghette] went stumbling down those stairs, and then silence,” Lanier said. “And then moments later the sound of gunshots, one after the other, would ring out from down that stairwell.”

Lanier said Bauer was wearing a police radio that was on “full-blast” as he wrestled with Legghette, and that the officer had removed his handcuffs from his belt during the struggle.

“[Legghette] knew. He knew Paul Bauer was a police officer,” the prosecutor said. “He knew he was police officer trying to arrest him. And he killed him for it.”

Legghette, 46, faces a life sentence if jurors find him guilty. In addition to 24 counts of first-degree murder, Legghette was also charged with multiple weapons- and drug-related charges.

Chicago police

Also expected to take the stand are the tactical unit officers who first spotted Legghette on Lower Wacker Drive. When an officer called out to Legghette, he said Legghette took off running — prompting a call out over police radio that sent officers swarming through the Loop’s government complex.

Kamin, who has sought to admit records from Bauer’s disciplinary files into evidence, told jurors that Bauer was a “very aggressive” officer, who ignored radio calls to slow down the chase. Legghette noticed Bauer was following him, and assumed he might be a rival

“He ignored the fact that the supposed crime was attempting to urinate, or urinating,” Kamin said. “He didn’t know how minor this was. It was nothing. He just ran and he forgot he wasn’t dressed as a police officer.”

Legghette was carrying a 9-millimeter Glock pistol with an extended magazine, as well as heroin, marijuana and cocaine, prosecutors said. Kamin said Legghette, who has multiple drug and weapons convictions, had on body armor — like he did in a 2007 arrest — because he had been shot at before.

“Legghette doesn’t know who is following him. Is it somebody related to his drug dealing?” Kamin said. “It’s a person wearing a dark blue coat and a cap doesn’t have anything, or other signs he’s anything other than a normal person except he’s trying to hurt Mr. Legghette.”