Remembering Fred Hampton: 52 Years After Assassination by Police and FBI

William O'Neal was a spy who was placed into the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (ILBPP) by the Chicago police and the FBI at some point in 1969. O'Neal was in charge of security the night Hampton was killed. He was a bodyguard and a valued friend of Hampton's.[1] It is generally accepted that he drugged Fred Hampton on the evening of December 3 in order to prevent him from being able to defend himself.[2] On Chicago's West Side, at 2337 West Monroe Street, the police arrived early the following morning. They invaded the flat where Hampton, his pregnant fiancée Deborah Johnson, and several other Black Panthers were resting, thanks to a floor plan that O'Neal gave them through the FBI.[3] The officers broke into the house and shot Mark Clark, who was on guard, once in the chest. Either his death spasm or his falling to the floor caused him to fire his gun upward—the only shot the Black Panthers fired during this raid and done posthumously.[4] The police, who were heavily armed, including with a submachine gun, open-fired throughout the apartment despite pleas to stop, firing at least ninety bullets.[5] When the onslaught ceased, Fred Hampton and Deborah Johnson were miraculously only injured.