A Cook County judge on Thursday handed down a $5,000 bond for a Lincoln Park man accused of threatening to shoot Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and hang them both from trees if they didn’t “start getting tough on crime.”
Christopher Tatlock, 32, appeared in bond court before Judge Maryam Ahmad on Thursday afternoon. He is charged with two counts of threatening a public official and two counts of a hate crime, both felonies. His case is being prosecuted by the Illinois attorney general’s office because the alleged threat involves Cook County’s top prosecutor.
During the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Michael Falagario said Tatlock sent separate threatening emails to Foxx and Lightfoot last week.
In the first email to Foxx, Tatlock allegedly used the N-word and demanded that she “start prosecuting crime or I’ll put a bullet in the back of your head and hang you from a tree.” Two days later he allegedly sent an email to Lightfoot warning of a similar fate if the mayor did not “start getting tough on crime.”
Falagario said, when questioned by investigators, Tatlock admitted sending the emails and said he had been watching the news about recent violent crime and “was upset about it being so close to home.”
Falagario said Tatlock repeatedly apologized for sending the emails and insisted he had no intention of using physical violence. He also sent a follow-up apology email to one of the investigators, Falagario said.
Tatlock’s attorney, Konstantinos Markakos, told the judge there may be “mental health issues” at play and noted that no weapon was recovered during the investigation. When reached by WBEZ, Markakos declined to say more except to say that they would wait for all of the evidence to come out.
The $5,000 bond means Tatlock would have to pay $500 to be released from bail while awaiting trial. Markakos indicated to the judge Tatlock could afford that bond amount.
If Tatlock is released he will be placed on electronic monitoring, and the judge barred him from using email at all or from contacting either the mayor’s or state’s attorney’s offices “until further order of the court.”
Patrick Smith is a reporter on WBEZ’s Criminal Justice Desk. Follow him @pksmid. Email him at psmith@wbez.org.
