I remember getting blindsided by a question asked of me in court by the prosecutor. It was a jury trial of a man that had killed a young deputy sheriff who was on his doorstep trying to serve a misdemeanor arrest warrant. The defendant then took the deputy's firearm and his own shotgun and left the scene in the deputy's squad car. He then drove to a neighbor's house and shotgunned the adults in front of their 10-year-old daughter. He then left, looking for other people that he believed had wronged him during his lifetime. I was one of those people. I was off duty, down with a migraine. The small rural county where I worked normally had one county deputy on duty and whatever officers that may be working in the 3 small towns in the county. Normally one shift/one officer per day. These officers are a mix of full time and part-time officers. I was the Chief of my department, and I got the call to respond. The dispatcher had lost it, giving bad information and was incapable of handling the overwhelming number of calls and information she was receiving. Myself and two part-time officers from neighboring towns boxed in the suspect. I mean he rammed one squad car and I came from behind and put my bumper against the rear of his vehicle. He was stopped and pinned down. That's when the gunfight started. I heard a shotgun blast as soon as I bailed out of my car. It was followed by a mix of handgun shots. I maneuvered around my squad car, putting sheet metal and an engine block between me and the suspect. I was getting blasted by broken glass from the rear window of the stolen squad car and my own windshield. I took cover and had experienced bullets passing close to my ear. I really couldn't see the suspect very well. It was night and the only lights were from my squad car. And I had them ALL on. I could occasionally see the top of the suspect's head oner the top of the driver's seat and I began to plan a shot through the seat but wondered how much metal was involved in the headrest and seat and whether my .45acp would punch through it accurately. I fired ONE shot and then there was silence. I figured the suspect was either wounded, dead, or out of ammo. I also considered that he could be playing possum and was waiting to ambush the first person to walk up to the car. I started seeing some movement of his head and realized he was still alive and probably wounded. I yelled at the other officers to hold their ground and hopefully he would bleed out. After a few minutes, the sheriff came flying up to the scene and pulled a shotgun from his personal truck. I gave him a 5 second briefing and he ran up and put the barrel of the shotgun against the neck of the suspect and began pulling weapons out of the car and putting them on the roof. After that, he yanked the suspect out of the stolen squad car and dumped him on the ground. I quickly handcuffed and searched the suspect. The night was just beginning. There were multiple crime scenes to deal with and three murders. The state police stepped up and took over the investigations.
There never was any doubt he murdered three people. He attorney didn't even try to prove otherwise. The only issue at the trial was his sanity and the hard and crappy road of life that he had travelled in his 60 years of life. Prosecutors often talk about "the smoking gun". No doubt that someone committed the crime. In this case we had the smoking gun and a stolen squad car. The question that I was asked in court, by the prosecutor, was why I only fired one shot. Even being blindsided by this question, I said, "That's what my training has taught me to do. Meet force with comparable force until there's no threat". No hesitation with my reply, only training that kicked in when it was needed.
This asshole had been shot under his left eye and the bullet travelled through his mouth and then lodged behind his right ear. He lost the sight of the eye, some teeth, and a large part of his hearing. He was convicted of 33 counts. including first degree murder and given the death sentence. Our governor had put a moratorium on carrying out executions. It had just expired and he was the first person back on death row in Illinois. He stayed in isolation for a few years until his wife died of cancer. At this time he hanged himself. This upset me since, while exiting the courtroom after receiving his sentence, he walked past me and said, "F*** you". I replied, "I'll see you at your execution".
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