Dan Proft, host of Chicago’s Morning Answer, recently posted an update on the police officer who was shot in a deadly hospital attack.
“I’m so angry. I don’t know if it’s because I left and feel like I left Officer Crespo (and Bartholomew) behind or because they didn’t leave or what,” Proft wrote in an April 26 post on X. “The Chicago and IL electorates are a shameful bunch. That I know. I didn’t do well enough while I was there and so I share in that shame. I apologize to their families.”
According to Proft’s post, Officer Crespo remains in extremely critical but stabilized condition after being transferred to a higher level of care. Authorities said he was shot in the mouth, with the round traveling into his brain and spine, causing severe trauma. He has suffered significant loss of brain fluid, blood, and spinal material and is heavily sedated as doctors continue treatment.
Officer Crespo was critically wounded, and Officer John Bartholomew, 38, was killed on April 25 inside Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital after a suspect opened fire while in police custody, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Police said officers had brought the suspect to the hospital following an arrest tied to an armed robbery in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, where a woman was assaulted earlier that morning.
Authorities identified the suspect as Alphonso Talley, according to CWB Chicago. Talley was under police supervision when he obtained a firearm inside the hospital and opened fire before fleeing the scene. He was later taken into custody. Investigators are reviewing how the weapon was accessed within the secured facility.
CWB Chicago details Talley’s extensive criminal background, noting he had multiple prior felony convictions, including armed robberies, and was facing additional pending felony cases at the time of his release. Prosecutors had opposed his release, arguing he posed a continued threat, but a Cook County judge allowed him to be placed on electronic monitoring under the state’s SAFE-T Act. According to the report, the judge cited the statute’s standards in rejecting detention, despite warnings from prosecutors about his risk profile.
Proft is a Republican political commentator and radio host of Chicago’s Morning Answer. He co-founded the Illinois Opportunity Project to advance free-market policies in the state. Proft ran in the 2010 Republican primary for Illinois governor and has worked in political consulting.
