Chicago police and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they made the connection to Wortham's slaying after Gates was implicated in a scheme that involved buying guns in Mississippi and allegedly selling them to the Gangster Disciples street gang in Chicago, authorities said.
Four firearms have been recovered in Chicago, authorities said.
At his sentencing hearing in Mississippi on Wednesday, prosecutors presented evidence that Gates also trafficked the gun used to kill Wortham, said ATF spokesman Todd Reichert.
Chicago police Cmdr. Keith Calloway, who was Wortham's supervisor at the time of his killing, attended that hearing to make sure the judge understood that Wortham, a member of the Army National Guard who served in Iraq, was a good man.
"I told the judge it was evil and unconscionable that ... somebody would be providing weapons to these gangbangers," Calloway said Thursday.
Police Superintendent Jody Weis added during a news conference Thursday that Gates' actions "put countless lives in jeopardy and directly contributed to the murder of one of the finest officers to ever wear the Chicago Police Department uniform."
Wortham, 30, who was assigned to the Englewood district, was shot outside his parents' house during an attempted robbery.
Four men approached Wortham as he left the Chatham home and tried to steal his motorcycle. Wortham and his father, Thomas Wortham III, exchanged gunfire with the four, killing one of them. The other three have been charged with murder.
Gates, an Englewood native, attended a magnet elementary school before graduating from Bogan High School in 2002.
His younger brother Quawim Gates, 25, said he looked up to him as a father figure.
"The person that they're describing, who they're characterizing, I don't even know who that person is," he said.
Four firearms have been recovered in Chicago, authorities said.
At his sentencing hearing in Mississippi on Wednesday, prosecutors presented evidence that Gates also trafficked the gun used to kill Wortham, said ATF spokesman Todd Reichert.
Chicago police Cmdr. Keith Calloway, who was Wortham's supervisor at the time of his killing, attended that hearing to make sure the judge understood that Wortham, a member of the Army National Guard who served in Iraq, was a good man.
"I told the judge it was evil and unconscionable that ... somebody would be providing weapons to these gangbangers," Calloway said Thursday.
Police Superintendent Jody Weis added during a news conference Thursday that Gates' actions "put countless lives in jeopardy and directly contributed to the murder of one of the finest officers to ever wear the Chicago Police Department uniform."
Wortham, 30, who was assigned to the Englewood district, was shot outside his parents' house during an attempted robbery.
Four men approached Wortham as he left the Chatham home and tried to steal his motorcycle. Wortham and his father, Thomas Wortham III, exchanged gunfire with the four, killing one of them. The other three have been charged with murder.
Gates, an Englewood native, attended a magnet elementary school before graduating from Bogan High School in 2002.
His younger brother Quawim Gates, 25, said he looked up to him as a father figure.
"The person that they're describing, who they're characterizing, I don't even know who that person is," he said.
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