Abraham C Cooper

Just two days before Christmas, the life of 19-year-old Abraham C. Cooper was cut short by gunfire in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. Remembered by friends as “laid back” and “cool,” Abraham, an African-American teenager known by the nicknames "3 Ace" and "2 Abe," had attended Prologue High School and Michele Clark. His death on December 23, 2014, was a sudden and violent end for a young man just at the threshold of his adult life.

That Tuesday evening, at approximately 7:53 p.m., Abraham was on the street in the 400 block of North Lawler Avenue when he was shot in the chest and shoulder. First responders rushed him to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County. Despite the efforts of medical staff, he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, at 8:36 p.m. At the time, he was a resident of the 4800 block of West Fullerton Avenue. The Chicago Police Department began an investigation, but for years, his killing remained unsolved, one of many that plagued the city that year.

For nearly seven years, there were no public developments in the investigation into Abraham's murder. Then, in November 2021, a major breakthrough came as part of a large-scale federal operation. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois unsealed a sweeping racketeering indictment against 13 alleged leaders, members, and associates of a violent street gang known as the Wicked Town faction of the Traveling Vice Lords. The indictment painted a grim picture of a criminal enterprise that operated for two decades, primarily in the Austin neighborhood, engaging in drug trafficking and extreme violence to protect its territory and power.

Within the detailed 21-count indictment, federal prosecutors specifically charged a man named Demond Brown with the murder of Abraham Cooper. The charges alleged that Brown killed Abraham as part of the gang's violent criminal conspiracy. The indictment linked Wicked Town to at least 19 murders, 19 attempted murders, and numerous armed robberies and assaults between 2000 and 2020. The gang was accused of using "trap houses" to store weapons and drugs and promoting its violent activities on social media to intimidate rivals and witnesses.

The indictment alleged that members committed murders to maintain and increase their status within the gang. Abraham's death was listed among the many violent acts carried out in furtherance of this criminal enterprise. The federal charges brought a new dimension to the case, moving it from a cold case in the files of the Chicago police to a key component of a major federal racketeering prosecution aimed at dismantling a powerful and ruthless gang.

The overarching federal case against the Wicked Town gang, *USA v. Deshawn Morgan et al.*, has since moved through the court system. Trials for some of the 13 defendants have taken place. For instance, the trial for two high-ranking members, Donald Lee and Torance Benson, concluded in November 2022 with convictions on RICO conspiracy and murder charges. As of June 2024, court proceedings in the complex case were ongoing. The specific status of the charge against Demond Brown for the murder of Abraham Cooper is part of this larger litigation, which continues to unfold in federal court.