Grant Pleads Guilty to Murder of Trooper Hopkins

Christopher Grant Friday pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Illinois State Police Trooper Nicholas Hopkins.

Trooper Hopkins was attempting to execute a state search warrant at Grant's house in East St. Louis in August of 2019. Grant told authorities he was asleep on the couch in his home and was awakened when he heard someone on his porch. Grant said he had been robbed of cash and drugs two weeks earlier. He fired the gun he had been sleeping by three times towards whoever was on his porch.

That someone was Trooper Hopkins, who had just finished connecting the chain to the steel bars on the front of Grant's house and was turning to walk back down the steps when one of Grant's gunshots passed through the wooden door on the front of the house and struck Trooper Hopkins in the head. The trooper died later that day.

Sentencing is set for November 9. Grant will receive at least 10 years in prison and could receive up to life in prison.