Suspect charged in Chicago hit-and-run that killed 3 men
Posted August 23, 2022 2:29 pm.
Last Updated August 23, 2022 2:32 pm.
CHICAGO (AP) — A man accused of killing three men and seriously injuring another by intentionally plowing his car into them outside a well-known gay bar in Chicago has been arrested on murder charges, police announced Tuesday.
At a news conference, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said 34-year-old Tavis Dunbar was arrested on Monday and charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder after an investigation revealed that he “intentionally struck” the men.
According to Brendan Deenihan, the department’s chief of detectives, Dunbar, accompanied by an attorney, surrendered to police. But, he said, police do not know a motive for the attack outside Jeffery Pub at about 5 a.m. on Aug., 14 because Dunbar “invoked his right to remain silent.”
Since the incident, there have been questions about whether the men who were killed outside one of the city’s oldest gay bars were the victims of a hate crime. But Deenihan said, “We do not have any evidence to support that this was a hate crime at this time.”
He also said detectives determined that Dunbar was in the bar before the incident but that there was no evidence that he got into a fight or an argument with anyone there before he left, got into a car and later drove at a high rate of speed into the group of men standing outside.
He said police were able to identify Dunbar as a suspect through anonymous tips as well as an examination of footage from surveillance cameras that allowed detectives to track Dunbar as he got out of the car a short distance from the incident and walk to an apartment building where he asked for help.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said Dunbar was scheduled to appear in bond court later Tuesday, and that prosecutors would ask the judge to order Dunbar be held without bond.
Don Babwin, The Associated Press
