Four teens have been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston, who was fatally shot during an alleged robbery spree by the group.

The charges were filed against Joseph Brooks, 18, Jakwon Buchanan, 18, Trevell Breeland, 19, and Jaylan Frazier, 16, who was charged as an adult.

Preston was on her way home after work early Saturday in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue when the suspects passed her in a sedan, circled back and approached her as she stood in front of her house, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Private surveillance video shows three of the suspects getting out of the car and running toward Preston, prosecutors said. Muzzle flashes can be seen from where the teens are standing and from where Preston was.

Brooks told detectives he shot Preston, who was still in her uniform, when he saw her reaching for her gun, according to prosecutors.

When the officer fell, the teens are seen running back to the sedan but one of them returned to Preston and took her gun before rejoining the group, prosecutors said. Her magazine for the gun was left behind.

Police later recovered nearly a dozen 9-mm shell casings from the scene.

Preston was hit at least twice and also grazed by a bullet. ShotSpotter, the city’s gunshot detection system, picked up the barrage of gunfire, but an officer didn’t respond to the block for more than 30 minutes.

The officer then drove her to University of Chicago Medical Center, where Preston was pronounced dead.

The teens fled to a vacant lot in the 7200 block of South Eberhart, where private surveillance video captured them walking together north through an alley to the back door of a home, prosecutors said. Video from a distance later showed the car burning.

Later that evening, Frazier allegedly called a friend and discussed the murder.

“Frazier asked if he had seen the news about a police officer being killed … Frazier said it was his work,” prosecutors said. Frazier “told him they were out robbing people when they saw a single female in her car. They were going to rob her but the female shot at them. One of the guys he was with shot back at the cop and killed her.”

That friend later went to police with what Frazier allegedly said and, during an interview with detectives, called Frazier and put him on speakerphone and allowed detectives to listen as they talked.

During the call Frazier made “additional admissions about the robberies and shooting including details that had not been released.”

Frazier said he stayed inside the Kia while the other three suspects robbed and shot Preston, prosecutors said. They later burned the Kia using lighter fluid, Frazier allegedly told police.

Frazier’s mother told the Sun-Times she attended a memorial for Preston Tuesday evening after leaving the police station to turn in her son. “She did not deserve that. I am very, very sorry about what happened,” Jaquanna Walker said.

‘A fallen hero’

At a news conference to discuss the charges, Interim Police Supt. Eric Carter called Preston a “fallen hero” and asked Chicagoans to pray for her, her family and the officers who responded to the shooting “as they process the trauma they experienced.”

“She was a beloved daughter, sister and friend who wanted make a difference in this world,” Carter told reporters. “Those who knew her will tell you that’s exactly what she did. She wanted to help create a better future for Chicago, but the incomprehensible actions of four offenders took that future from her, and the loss to the city is tremendous.”

“I ask that everyone continue to pray for Areanah’s family as they navigate this world without her.

“While we know that this does not ease the pain, we hope that knowing the people responsible for her murder have been caught … raises a small measure of peace to them,” he added. “Though Areanah’s not physically here with us, her spirit of service and kindness will forever carry on and we will never forget it.”

Calumet District Cmdr. Tyrone Pendarvis, Preston’s boss, described her as a “star” who “made her presence known” by always saying hello to him. He noted that “she wept” after making her final arrest the evening before she was killed.

“That speaks to the credit of Officer Preston because she connected with everyone,” Pendarvis said. “She was empathetic to everyone’s problems” regardless of whether they’d been arrested.

Pendarvis acknowledged the charges “won’t bring Areanah back,” but he said they will help her loved ones “on a journey to get over this loss.”

Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott declined to answer questions about the delayed police response to Preston’s shooting. 

Despite the city’s gunshot detection system registering nine rounds in the area around the time of the shooting, it took more than 30 minutes for a traffic officer to respond to an alert from Preston’s Apple Watch and find her fatally wounded.

Police officials confirmed Preston’s gun was taken in the shooting and has not been recovered.

Shooting came at end of robbery spree

Prosecutors said Preston was killed at the end of a robbery spree that began when Buchanan was contacted by his girlfriend who told him “she needed money for a barbecue.”

Buchanan’s girlfriend and another woman picked up Buchanan, Brooks, Breeland and Frazier shortly after midnight in her Dodge Avenger, prosecutors said. All four were allegedly wearing black clothing and had face coverings.

Both women later identified all the suspects in a photo array except Frazier, who was only identified by one of the women, prosecutors said.

The group allegedly first robbed a 33-year-old woman shortly after midnight after she parked her near the 900 block of East 46th Street. The woman said she was approached by four people who were each armed with a handgun with an extended magazine and they demanded her Louis Vuitton belt, before taking her cellphone and other items, including credit cards, prosecutors said.

The group then decided to steal a car and located a red Kia sedan in the 4700 block of South Indiana Avenue, which they stole, leaving the two women in the Dodge, prosecutors said.

The Kia was used by the four suspects in a robbery shortly afterward. They pulled up to a 62-year-old woman standing in front of her home and talking to a 29-year-old woman in the 10000 block of South Wallace Avenue, prosecutors said. The group pushed the two women to the ground and stole multiple items at gunpoint, including a Coach bag and a cellphone, prosecutors said.

The teens then drove to the 9100 block of South Merrill, where a man had just parked his Tesla. He was surrounded by the teens, who took his cellphone and Tesla key, prosecutors said. They discarded both shortly after taking them, prosecutors said.

The suspects soon began following Preston’s car, prosecutors said.

Cellphone records for at least one of the suspects place his phone in the areas of the robberies that night, prosecutors said. Others in the group were identified by witnesses in separate photo arrays, prosecutors said.

All four of the teens have previously been convicted of robbery as juveniles.

Frazier’s mother, Jaquanna Walker, said she had called her son and encouraged him to turn himself in after learning police were searching for him. “I just wanted to do him the right thing,” Walker told the Sun-Times Wednesday.

Frazier told her he was traumatized by the killing. “He told me, ‘Mom, I’ve never seen anybody die before.’ He just started to describe how he saw someone on the ground, how it happened so fast. He said it got out of hand,” she said.

Walker said her son felt that if he snitched on the others, “they’re going to kill me. He feels like he told on everyone. But I said, No, the truth will set you free,” she said.

Walker said she was relieved to learn her son, who has a history of juvenile arrests, wasn’t the shooter. “Even with his bad behavior, he’s no killer.”