Prosecutors: Man threatened to kill Chicago cop in viral video
Bail has been set at $10,000 for a 20-year-old man charged after he was allegedly seen holding guns and threatening to kill a Chicago police officer last month in a viral Facebook Live video.
Police were monitoring the Facebook account of Tavon Baylock when he began streaming a live video on Jan. 23 that showed himself and two others in a car driving alongside a police SUV in the 9500 block of South Halsted Street, according to Cook County prosecutors.
The video was later posted to the Facebook account Chicago Code BLUE and has been viewed more than 2 million times.
In the video, Baylock can be seen holding what appear to be two semiautomatic handguns in his lap as the officer is seen driving in a marked SUV alongside Baylock’s car, prosecutors said.
In the back seat, another person appears to hold a handgun with a laser sight attached and a 50-round magazine, prosecutors said.
The man, identified by authorities as Baylock, laughs and makes several comments in the video, including “we’re gonna kill him” and “he’s gonna get his ass hurt,” as the camera pans back and forth between the guns in his lap and the officer’s squad car.
Baylock faces a felony count of threatening a public official in the incident, prosecutors said.
The officer doesn’t appear to notice he is being recorded, but prosecutors said the officer’s knowledge of the threat is not a requirement for the charge under state law.
Baylock’s attorney, Michael A. Saken, said Baylock was an “aspiring rapper” and disagreed that he had threatened the officer. Saken also noted no weapons had been recovered.
“Besides the fact that there is language used that most would consider to be bad, there were no threats,” Saken told Judge David Navarro on Friday.
Prosecutors said Baylock has no adult criminal background but noted he had been charged with unlawful use of a weapon twice in 2015. Both cases were heard in Cook County Juvenile Court.
Police spokesman Howard Ludwig said Monday no one else was in custody in connection with the incident, which remained under investigation.