The Murder of Fred Hampton : Black History Speaks:

Fred Hampton
Fred Hampton was born on August 30, 1948 in suburban Illinois. He was noticeably gifted in academics and athletics. He wanted to play for the New York Yankees when he was done with school but ended up studying pre-law at Triton Junior College. Hampton was inspired to study law to use it as a defense against police and their brutality. Around this time, he became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), leading their Youth Council of the organization’s West Suburban Branch. He increased the Council’s membership to over 500 members.
While he was organizing youth on behalf of the NAACP, the Black Panther Party was gaining national popularity. The Party's Ten-Point Program that integrated black self-determination and elements of Maoism inspired Hampton to join and move to downtown Chicago. Hampton’s leadership abilities were apparent there. He brokered a nonaggression pact between Chicago’s most powerful and dangerous street gangs. Hampton’s personal charisma combined with his organizing skills and gift of speech allowed him to be noticed and rise quickly within the Black Panthers. He soon became the leader of the Chicago chapter -- organizing rallies, working with the People’s Clinic, and the Free Breakfast Program. With the actions of the COINTELPRO operation decimating the Party’s leadership, Hampton became next in line to be appointed the Central Committee Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party - also marking him as a person of interest to the FBI. The FBI convinced a informant, William O'Neal, to infiltrate the Party and get close to Hampton. O'Neal succeeded in joining the Party, acting as Fred Hampton’s bodyguard and Director of Chapter Security. At the instruction of J. Edgar Hoover, he worked to undermine the coalitions that Hampton had created amongst the neighborhood gangs and organizations - causing a major rift and creating a distrust of the Black Panthers.

Officers were dispatched to raid his apartment. They stormed in and opened fire, killing Mark Clark, acting as his security guard. Then they opened fire on Hampton’s bedroom where he laid unconscious from the drug. Despite the intense round of fire, Hampton and his pregnant fiance were only wounded. Upon that discovery, an officer shot him twice in his head and killed him. The remaining seven Panthers that were present in the apartment were all arrested and indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempted murder, armed violence, and a variety of weapons charges.
A short time later, there was a break-in at a FBI field office in Pennsylvania where the COINTELPRO documents were discovered. The cache of documents included a floorplan of Hampton’s apartment and an outline of the deal to conceal the FBI’s role in the assassination of Hampton.
Records at the National Archives relating to Fred Hampton include the FBI and Department of Justice case files investigating his death, and US District Court files relating to the subsequent civil suit.
On the evening of December 3, Hampton taught a political education course at a local church, which was attended by most members. Afterward, as was typical, several Panthers went to his Monroe Street apartment to spend the night, including Hampton and Deborah Johnson, Blair Anderson, James Grady, Ronald "Doc" Satchell, Harold Bell, Verlina Brewer, Louis Truelock, Brenda Harris, and Mark Clark. There they were met by O'Neal, who had prepared a late dinner, which the group ate around midnight. O'Neal had slipped the barbiturate sleep agent secobarbitol into a drink that Hampton consumed during the dinner, in order to sedate Hampton so he would not awaken during the subsequent raid. O'Neal left at this point, and, at about 1:30 a.m., December 4, Hampton fell asleep mid-sentence talking to his mother on the telephone.the coming raid would kill Hampton that nite
The bed and room where Hampton was fatally shot during the raid, showing a large amount of blood on his side of the mattress and numerous bullet holes in the walls.
At 4:00 a.m., the heavily armed police team arrived at the site, divided into two teams, eight for the front of the building and six for the rear.
At 4:45 a.m., they stormed into the apartment. Mark Clark, sitting in the front room of the apartment with a shotgun in his lap, was on security duty. The police shot him in the chest, killing him instantly.An alternative account said that Clark answered the door and police immediately shot him. Either way, Clark's gun discharged once into the ceiling. This single round was fired when he suffered a reflexive death-convulsion after being shot. This was the only shot fired by the Panthers. organized by the office of Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan.

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