Chicago man pleads guilty in shooting of three undercover federal officers

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man has pleaded guilty to charges in a 2021 drive-by shooting of three undercover law enforcement officers that he mistook for rival gang members, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Eugene “Gen Gen” McLaurin, 31, entered the plea Tuesday to three counts of assaulting a federal officer and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence, prosecutors said.

Each firearm count is punishable by 10 years to life in prison and each assault count is punishable by up to 20 years, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah scheduled sentencing for March 13, 2024.

McLaurin has been detained in federal custody since his arrest in 2021.

The shootings occurred on the morning of July 7, 2021, when two agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and an ATF Task Force officer were driving in an unmarked vehicle while conducting a covert federal investigation on the South Side.

McLaurin admitted in a plea agreement that he had mistakenly suspected the officers were members of an opposing gang. McLaurin drove alongside the vehicle and fired several shots, leaving the three officers seriously injured, prosecutors said.