Sam Charles

Sam Charles is a criminal justice reporter for the Chicago Tribune covering the Chicago Police Department. He was previously a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times and an investigative producer at WGN-TV. He is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago.

Activist Bamani Obadele speaks in the 7100 block of South Woodlawn Avenue in Chicago on July 5, 2024, at a vigil for Bryson Orr, who was fatally shot on the block a day earlier. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

With Chicago under a microscope, anti-violence group responds to mass shootings in Bronzeville

September 5, 2025 at 2:47 p.m.

Outreach workers canvassed in Bronzeville this week in the wake of a pair of mass shootings, with teams going door to door passing out information, handing out safety tips and...

Robert D. Grant, left, then the special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago office, talks to a reporter after a news conference on June 5, 2012, as the FBI announced Fidel Urbina had been added to the agency's Ten Most Wanted list. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

After flight to Mexico, lengthy delays, Fidel Urbina still awaits trial in 1998 assault and murder of woman

September 2, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

After flight to Mexico and ongoing delays, Fidel Urbina is still in Cook County Jail awaiting trial in the 1998 assault and murder of woman.

Anthony Driver, president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, speaks at a City Council budget hearing, Nov. 9, 2024. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune)

Anthony Driver stepping down as president of CCPSA

August 29, 2025 at 12:28 p.m.

Anthony Driver, Jr., the first president of the city’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, announced this week that he will soon step down as head of the body...

Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, makes his way back to his seat during a City Council meeting at City Hall on June 18, 2025. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune)

‘Ridiculous’: Top cop pushes back against alderman who suggests city crime stats could be altered

September 2, 2025 at 2:25 p.m.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling this week rebuked a Northwest Side alderman who expressed skepticism about Chicago’s year-over-year crime declines as the city girds itself ahead of a possible deployment...

Chicago police investigate a scene of an officer shooting near West 58th Street and Princeton Avenue on Aug. 27, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

5 people, including 3 cops, injured after attempted burglary at Englewood rail yard

August 27, 2025 at 6:05 p.m.

Four people, including three Chicago police officers, were injured in a police-involved shooting Wednesday morning in Englewood.

Chicago police work the scene where a 40-year-old woman and 22-year-old man were shot in the 600 block of South California Avenue in the Garfield Park neighborhood, July 9, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

As Chicago continues to make gains on crime, many see potential for damage in National Guard threat

August 27, 2025 at 5:20 p.m.

Law enforcement experts and violence prevention leaders say the move to send the National Guard to Chicago would amount to a piece of political theater at best and “a recipe...

A memorial to Adam Toledo on April 20, 2021, at the site where the teen was shot and killed by Chicago police Officer Eric Stillman in an alley near West 24th Street and South Sawyer Avenue in Little Village. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Adam Toledo’s family challenges court order after ex-cop who fatally shot the teen sees his disability benefits increase

August 24, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The family of Adam Toledo is challenging a recent court order that increased disability payments to the former Chicago police officer who fatally shot the 13-year-old in Little Village in...

Yolanda Rivera, center, calls for greater transparency in the investigation into the shooting death of her daughter, Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera, as attorney Antonio Romanucci, left, and Krystal’s stepfather, Rico Thompson, listen at the Chicago law office of Romanucci & Blandin on July 2, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Bullet that killed Officer Krystal Rivera struck her from behind in vest opening, according to autopsy

August 20, 2025 at 6:52 p.m.

More than two months after her death, slain CPD Officer Krystal Rivera’s autopsy was finalized by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An officer wears a button showing slain Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera while attending her funeral at Living World Christian Center, June 25, 2025, in Forest Park. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Officer who shot Krystal Rivera stripped of police powers days after Wicker Park bar incident

August 15, 2025 at 3:57 p.m.

Days after an incident at a bar in Wicker Park, the Chicago Police Department on Friday stripped the police powers of the cop who fatally shot Officer Krystal Rivera earlier...

COPA investigating claim of battery at bar against cop who mistakenly shot CPD Officer Krystal Rivera

August 14, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has opened an investigation into an alleged battery that occurred last weekend in Wicker Park involving the Chicago Police officer who fatally shot Officer...

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