Man wanted on murder charges is apprehended at Chicago restaurant just blocks from DNC

A man wanted on murder and armed robbery charges was taken into custody Wednesday after a 15-hour standoff with police at a Chicago restaurant just blocks from the Democratic National Convention, authorities said.

Joshua Zimmerman had been sought by the U.S. Marshals Service since his escape from a Mississippi courthouse in June. He was located Tuesday at the restaurant, according to Justin Smith, chief deputy with the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi.

After marshals learned that Zimmerman was in Chicago, an agency task force concluded that he was at a seafood restaurant, where investigators believed he was working.

“During the arrest attempt, Zimmerman retreated into the ceiling and barricaded himself,” the agency said in a statement. A Chicago police SWAT team was then called to the scene.

The restaurant is about a half-mile from the United Center, where the political convention is being held. The Marshals Service said there was “no connection or threat to the event or those attending.”

Without using Zimmerman’s name, the Chicago Police Department said a person was taken into custody about 7:20 a.m. and that the SWAT action that began about 4 p.m. Tuesday had ended.

The Marshals Service said Zimmerman escaped from the circuit court building in Hernando, Mississippi, where he was being held on attempted murder and armed robbery charges. He was also awaiting extradition to Houston, Texas, where he’s charged with murder, the Marshals Service said.

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Zimmerman was wearing street clothes, not a jail jumpsuit, when he escaped. A screenshot from a courthouse security video showed him wearing khaki pants and a white shirt and no handcuffs.

Smith told reporters that the sheriff’s department and other agencies have been investigating why Zimmerman was not wearing handcuffs and how he escaped. He said authorities want to bring him back to Mississippi.

“That’s why we’re excited to actually get a chance to sit down with Zimmerman and get some more facts,” Smith said.

According to court records in Harris County, Texas, Zimmerman is accused of fatally shooting a woman, Keyanna Mercer, at a Houston motel on Sept. 2, 2023.

The two were asked to leave the motel after multiple complaints of fighting, and when staff members checked the room to see if they had left, they found Mercer’s body with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Court records also show Zimmerman was arrested in Connecticut in 2022 on a felony sexual assault charge. He pleaded not guilty and was freed on a $200,000 bond, but a warrant was later issued for his re-arrest. Connecticut State Police did not immediately provide details on the case.

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Callahan reported from Indianapolis. Associated Press writers Juan Lozano in Houston and Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to t his report.