Guilty verdict in trial for man accused of killing CPD Officer Andrés Vásquez-Lasso in 2023

CHICAGO (WGN) — Jurors have found Steven Montano, the man charged with killing Chicago Police Officer Andrés Vásquez-Lasso, guilty of first-degree murder following deliberations on Monday.

Montano was also found guilty of unlawful use of a weapon.

Deliberations began Monday shortly after closing arguments wrapped to decide whether the defendant, Steven Montano, 21, is guilty of first-degree murder shortly after closing arguments wrapped.

There was a gasp in the courtroom before closing arguments began, however, when Judge John Lyke agreed with the defense that jurors could consider second-degree murder, instead of first-degree murder. Still, jurors found Montano guilty of first-degree murder.

Closing arguments prompted the presence of the slain officers loved ones, as well as CPD Supt. Larry Snelling and Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neil Burke, among others.    

“This was the last face officer Andres Vásquez-Lasso saw on this earth,” Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Sara Grgurovic told the jury, pointing to defendant Steven Montano. “It was him, the killer, who was Officer Lasso’s ‘angel of death.'”

The defendant, just 18 years of age at the time of the shooting, is accused of firing five shots from his unlawfully possessed .45 caliber semi-automatic in 2023, killing 32-year-old CPD patrol Officer Andres Vásquez-Lasso after a Gage Park foot chase.   

The police were initially called to the 5200 block of South Spaulding after Montano’s girlfriend called 911, saying he was chasing her with a gun. 

Inside the Cook County Criminal Courthouse on Friday, Montano testified that he was terrified by the police. Montano described alleged encounters as a boy with CPD, though his account, at times, stopped short of seemingly corroborating evidence. Montano’s fear of police, he told jurors, was the reason why he fled on foot in March of 2023 as patrol officers and Vásquez-Lasso responded to a domestic disturbance call placed by Montano’s girlfriend.

The defense claimed self-defense, and Montano claimed he did not know Vásquez-Lasso was a cop while being pursued.

“He panicked when his girlfriend called 911,”  public defender Brett Balmer told the jury. “He panicked and jumped out the window.”

The jury has heard four days of testimony, including the testimony of the accused killer.

Bodycam video captured what prosecutors say is the defendant firing his pistol — which he was not licensed to carry — five times, claiming the 32-year-old officer’s life.

The slain officer returned fire, with a bullet hitting Montano in the jaw. Officers quickly arrested Montano, recovering what forensic experts said was the .45 caliber murder weapon.

Vásquez-Lasso had been with the Chicago Police Department for five years. An immigrant from Colombia, he left behind a wife and family internationally. He’s survived by his wife, daughter, and extended family.