Florida Man Accused Of Shooting Off-Duty Oak Lawn Cop Ordered Detained

OAK LAWN, IL — The Florida man accused of shooting an off-duty Oak Lawn police sergeant at a trucking company was ordered detained Wednesday at a pretrial hearing. Khambrel Lee, 35, appeared in blue hospital scrubs before Cook County Judge Mohammed Ghouse on a felony charge of attempted first-degree murder.

Lee was hired as a driver last year by MN89 in Oak Lawn and had entered into a lease-to-own agreement with the trucking company to buy his rig. As part of the arrangement, the company withdrew payments for the truck from his paycheck, the prosecutor said.

Shortly after 12 noon Monday, the prosecutor said Lee drove his pickup truck to his place of employment to confront management about a discrepancy in his paycheck.

The prosecutor said Lee approached the manager and for several minutes raised his voice aggressively to the manager in front of several employees.

When Lee chest bumped the manager, the off-duty sergeant who was working as a security guard at the trucking firm, tried to deescalate the confrontation by leaving the manager’s office and taking Lee outside, the prosecutor said.

The sergeant tried to calm down Lee, who was standing next to his truck when the prosecutor said Lee pulled out a gun from his jacket pocket. Somebody yelled “gun.”

Lee pointed the gun at the sergeant and began firing, hitting him in his bulletproof vest, the prosecutor said. A second security guard fired his weapon at Lee, but missed.

The prosecutor said Lee continued firing, firing his gun into the sergeant’s chest. The prosecutor said Lee kept shooting until his gun jammed.

The sergeant was able to hit Lee and push him to the ground despite his gunshot wound, while the second security guard physically restrained Lee, the prosecutor said.

The officer was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was treated for a gunshot wound in the leg, facial grazing wounds and a head injury.

In her pretrial argument to detain Lee while the case is pending, the prosecutor told the

The prosecutor told the judge that Lee was not happy with his financial arrangement with the trucking company. She said the argument and shooting were both captured on surveillance video.

“There were multiple people around. The defendant is a threat to the victim and the community,” the prosecutor said. “The presumption of guilt is great.”

The assistant public defender told the judge the state failed to present evidence of the exchange of gunfire.

“The state hasn’t met its burden,” the assistant public defender said.

The assistant public defender asked the judge to consider GPS and electronic monitoring to supervise Lee. While Lee had many arrests for violent crimes in Florida, but no convictions. He added that Lee could find a place to stay in Cook County.

“The court’s finding is that the defendant does in fact pose a real and present danger,” Judge Ghouse said. “He’s so enraged by his financial disposition he’s not in control.”

“He brought a concealed gun to his place of employment, he was told to go away and leave,” the judge continued. “I don’t believe electronic home monitoring would prevent the defendant from going out in public.”

Lee was ordered detained during pretrial. As he walked out of the courtroom, his pants fell down. His next court date is April 2 at the Bridgeview Courthouse.