July 10, 2021 Trooper Nicholas Hopkins – Photo Illinois State Police EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A drug dealer has pleaded guilty to murder in the death of an Illinois state trooper who was shot in the head in East St. Louis in 2019. Christopher Grant pleaded guilty to a series of crimes related to the shooting of Nicholas Hopkins. Hopkins had a search warrant and was shot while preparing to remove steel bars from Grant’s front door. Grant told investigators that the activity on the porch woke him up. He suspected someone was there to rob him. The 33-year-old trooper lived in Waterloo. Hopkins was married and had four-year-old twins and an infant daughter at the time of his death.