Several so-called “community peacekeepers” meant to curb violent crime in major Democrat-led cities are facing murder charges.
Democratic officials championed the peacekeepers as a progressive alternative to policing, whose criminal backgrounds purportedly helped provide a compassionate, “culturally sensitive” approach.
Each of the arrested violence prevention activists had previous encounters with law enforcement, including past murder cases, fueling doubts about the effectiveness of such criminal justice reform programs that critics see as soft on crime.
Chicago
Kellen McMiller, a member of the Chicago Peacekeepers, was arrested in mid-September for a deadly burglary incident just days after appearing alongside Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) at an event applauding the state-funded Peacekeepers program’s violence prevention efforts.
McMiller, a career criminal who was already wanted across four U.S. states, allegedly robbed a Louis Vuitton store at approximately 4:50 a.m. on Sept. 11 as part of an organized crime crew that crashed a car while fleeing the scene, killing an innocent civilian on his way to work.
According to authorities, at least a dozen suspects arrived at the Louis Vuitton location in six stolen vehicles. Surveillance video showed a pickup truck ramming into the storefront and smashing through the windows. The burglars then loaded a large amount of merchandise, luxury goods valued at around $700,000, into the vehicles.
Per police, one of the getaway cars, which McMiller was allegedly in, accelerated through multiple red lights until it collided with an SUV driven by the father of a newborn heading to his final work shift before going on paternity leave that morning. The victim’s fiancée gave birth to their son shortly after he was killed in the crash.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed first-degree murder charges against McMiller and six alleged accomplices for the fatal, “highly orchestrated” smash-and-grab.
“This case is a heartbreaking example of the threat that these organized retail theft operations pose to the entire community,” State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said in a statement. ”Not only is the economic vitality of our city compromised by these crimes, but these offenders pose a physical danger to every one of us who live and work here.”
Six days prior to the victim’s death, Pritzker met with McMiller along with other Peacekeepers, whom he said are “working to create safer communities.”
McMiller, who was wearing a Peacekeepers uniform, posed with Pritzker for a one-on-one picture.
The photograph, showing Pritzker and McMiller standing side by side, was scrubbed from a press release promoting the meeting on the governor’s website some time after state officials learned that authorities were charging McMiller in connection with the murder, CWB Chicago reported.
Following the report, a spokesperson for Pritzker said his office was “troubled” to hear of the allegations against McMiller and had removed the picture in question once they were made aware.
“The Governor meets hundreds of people in communities every week and is often asked to take photos,” the statement said. “We were extremely troubled to learn that this individual was arrested for his alleged involvement in this serious crime, and we expect them to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
McMiller, then a fugitive from justice, had four warrants outstanding for his arrest at the time, three of which were from out of state, according to Chicago Police Department arrest records reviewed by the Washington Examiner. His criminal history in Chicago, which dates back a decade, includes domestic battery, obstructing a peace officer, and street gang activity.
Three weeks before the robbery, McMiller was reportedly recruited as “an apprentice Peacekeeper” by Public Equity, a local nonprofit organization partnered with the Peacekeepers program.
Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, one of the organizations overseeing Public Equity, is reevaluating its vetting process after McMiller’s arrest. “I think it’s just an opportunity for us to get better at what we do and continue to strengthen our protocols and standards,” MPI executive director Vaughn Bryant told WBEZ Chicago.
Chicago CRED, which runs the Peacekeepers program, also released a statement saying that they “intentionally recruit individuals who are closely connected to people at very high risk of shooting or being shot.”
“Because many of them are justice-involved individuals who have experienced severe violence-related trauma, they sometimes make poor choices that can lead to tragic consequences,” Chicago CRED said. “With that in mind, we are constantly enhancing our screening practices and additional supports.”
The governor’s office referred to the group of Peacekeepers as “trusted messengers” in the community.
Pritzker praised the Peacekeepers in an X post containing footage from their Sept. 5 meeting and contrasted what they do with President Donald Trump’s plan to send National Guard troops to clean up crime in Chicago.
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“It’s folks like these that we need more of doing the hard work of community violence prevention, not troops on the ground to undermine efforts fighting crime,” Pritzker wrote.
Funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Peacekeepers program dispatches “trained” community members to de-escalate and mitigate conflicts in Chicago’s most violent hot spots.
State funding for the program was authorized through the passage of the Reimagine Public Safety Act, a 2021 initiative signed into law by Pritzker, which has since allocated more than $350 million to “community violence intervention.” Peacekeepers receive “a modest stipend” under the program.
Washington, D.C.
Cotey Wynn, who is awaiting trial for premeditated murder, was a full-time “violence interrupter” supervising a pilot public safety program within the District of Columbia attorney general’s office.
Wynn currently stands accused of aiding and abetting the murder of a businessman in a September 2023 mass shooting that wounded three others at a local smoking lounge.
In March of this year, Wynn was captured by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force and charged with first-degree murder while armed for his alleged role in the murder plot. According to the criminal complaint, Wynn was seen on security tape surveying the victims’ bodies and signaling to the suspected gunman when and where to escape.
Up until this point, Wynn was a program supervisor of a “violence interruption” initiative in the D.C. attorney general’s office called Cure the Streets. Wynn, who previously served 10 years in prison, led a team of six “violence interrupters” and “outreach workers.”
In July 2020, Wynn was spotlighted on the attorney general’s website as a Cure the Streets success story. The since-deleted profile called Wynn “a pillar of the community” who exemplified “community-driven public safety work.”
Months later, in December 2020, Wynn was charged with murder over a different shooting death stemming from 2017; however, that case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
According to an affidavit, while under arrest, Wynn “appeared to brag about criminal cases that he had previously [beaten]” and remarked that “the government didn’t do their homework” before apprehending him.
In response to his 2020 arrest, the attorney general’s office stressed that the 2017 homicide happened before Wynn was recruited into the Cure the Streets program.
Karl Racine, then the D.C. attorney general, told reporters that he had met Wynn a few times through Cure the Streets and found him to be “highly respected” in the community.
“My impression of Cotey in the two years I’ve known him is that he’s extremely diligent, he’s highly respected by his teammates and his community, and he’s a conscientious, hard-working individual,” Racine said. “We certainly weren’t aware of any matter related to the subject of his arrest yesterday.”
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who succeeded Racine, defended his office’s hiring of ex-convicts in violence prevention programming, such as the Cure the Streets, during 2023 testimony in front of the D.C. City Council’s judiciary and public safety committee.
“Keeping them locked up…will not make us safer or stronger,” Schwalb said.
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Cure the Streets “front-line” staff must be “culturally appropriate” “community insiders,” according to recruitment requirements. Staffers may be former gang members or have prior firearm convictions.
In a statement responding to Wynn’s latest arrest, Schwalb’s office noted his reputation as a “respected” anti-violence activist.
“Our office had no knowledge of Cotey’s potential involvement in any events related to his arrest,” Schwalb’s administration told FOX 5 DC. “He is well known throughout the District for his anti-violence work and is respected across the community.”
Philadelphia
Self-described “hood abolitionist” Sergio Hyland was arrested in April for allegedly shooting his girlfriend, a mother of two, in the back of the head. Her body was found dumped underneath an overpass.
Hyland, who was out on parole, served 22 years in state prison for a previous murder conviction before becoming a Philadelphia-based consultant on violence reduction and harm de-escalation strategies. He had a website advertising his services, such as speaking engagements, one-on-one coaching, workshops, and “criminal justice consultations.”
During his time behind bars, Hyland was mentored by Russell Maroon Shoatz, a former Black Panther and soldier in the Black Liberation Army. Shoatz, whose mentorship “politicized” Hyland, had murdered a Philadelphia police officer in 1970.
As an abolitionist, Hyland aims to abolish prisons and policing altogether.
“[A] special part of the population is more criticized than the other and, more policed than the other, and more incarcerated than the other,” Hyland told Resolve Philly, urging a second-chance approach that affords offenders the “opportunities to make mistakes.”
Hyland, an organizer for the left-wing Pennsylvania Working Families Party, worked to make “criminal justice reform a priority in the progressive movement.”
A week before his arrest, Hyland endorsed Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Soros-funded prosecutor, for reelection.
“We are proud to endorse him and support his unwavering commitment to transformative criminal justice reform,” Hyland was quoted as saying in a Working Families Party statement. “His initiatives to end mass incarceration, eliminate cash bail for nonviolent offenses, and hold law enforcement accountable for bad actions resonate deeply with our mission to advocate for policies that promote equity and justice for all Pennsylvanians.”
Krasner said at the time that he was “honored to accept their endorsement.”
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When asked about Hyland’s arrest, Krasner’s campaign said that the DA’s office is “working closely” with police to prosecute him as “vigorously” as the law allows.
“Larry has only a passing awareness of Mr. Hyland and saw him at a few events on the campaign trail,” a spokesperson for Krasner’s campaign told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “The District Attorney’s Office worked closely with the Philadelphia Police Department to charge him in this matter and will be vigorously prosecuting him to the fullest extent of the law.”