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Pritzker Posed With Chicago 'Peacekeeper' Days Before Man Was Allegedly Involved in Deadly Smash-and-Grab

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  September 18, 2025 1:30 PM

Last week, Chicago police arrested seven people who they allege were part of a smash-and-grab crew that drove a truck into the Louis Vuitton Store on Michigan Avenue. After allegedly robbing the store, they fled the scene and struck a car driven by a 40-year-old man, Mark Arceta. Arceta died of his injuries.

Here's more from CWBChicago:

Chicago police recovered nearly $270,000 worth of merchandise when they arrested seven members of a crash-and-grab crew that killed a man while fleeing on the Magnificent Mile this week, prosecutors said. But many accomplices remain at large, along with another $422,000 in purses and other luxury goods stolen from the Louis Vuitton store at 919 North Michigan Avenue.

Prosecutors said at least a dozen people pulled up to the store in six stolen vehicles just before 5 a.m. Thursday. Videos show a pickup truck backing up and ramming the store’s windows, allowing the crew to gain entry. The theft crew then loaded a large amount of merchandise into the stolen vehicles and fled.

Now the plot thickens, as one of the men allegedly involved in that crime, Kellen McMiller, was also pictured with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker just days before the crash that killed Mr. Arceta. 

Shortly after Arcet died, his wife gave birth to their son. In fact, the night he was killed, Arceta was heading to his last shift at Northwestern University before starting paternity leave.

McMiller was apparently a taxpayer-funded "peacekeeper" and part of a "community violence intervention program."

Now that the story broke, it also appears Pritzker's camp has scrubbed pictures of McMiller from the online press release.

Here's more again from CWBChicago:

Less than a week before a crash-and-grab burglary crew killed an innocent man on the Magnificent Mile last Thursday, one of the men now charged with that murder donned a “peacekeeper” uniform and posed for a one-on-one picture with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

While that’s troubling, some law enforcement experts are more concerned that the accused man was able to stand directly next to the state’s most powerful executive despite having outstanding warrants in four states.

CWBChicago first reported on 35-year-old Kellen McMiller’s role as a “peacekeeper” last weekend. Now, we have more detail, including a picture of McMiller posing with Pritzker—a photo that has apparently been scrubbed from the state’s online press release about the event.

In a post on Facebook, Pritzker -- who has opposed President Trump's plan to clean up crime-ridden cities like Chicago -- said, "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."

After a violent Labor Day weekend in Chicago, where 54 people were shot and seven killed, Pritzker spoke with a reporter and shrugged it off, noting, "big cities have crime."

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So it's no surprise his team would want to put some distance between Pritzker and a criminal now allegedly responsible for the death of an innocent man.