The Lake County state’s attorney’s office has concluded that the fatal shooting of a fugitive by Lake County and McHenry County deputies in an Antioch parking lot April 16 was justified.
In a news release Friday afternoon, State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim listed highlights of a Lake County Major Crimes Task Force investigation into the shooting of Gerald Boyes Jr. and said the deputies were “justified in their use of deadly force.”
According to the investigation, two Lake County deputies and two McHenry County deputies were involved in a confrontation with and the shooting of Boyes, who was being sought as a “person of interest” in a double homicide in McCracken County, Ky. He was also the subject of an arrest warrant in Florida and believed to be driving a stolen Ford Flex.
Florida police had been searching for the 53-year-old Boyes for a parole violation, and McCracken County, Ky., detectives had been looking for him as part of their investigation into the double murder of his father, Gerald Boyes Sr., and his girlfriend, Billie Potter, McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden said in April.
The two Lake County deputies — identified by Nerheim as Tomas Flores and Felix Pena — had been advised that Boyes was wanted in the double-murder case and had a description of the stolen car Boyes was believed to be driving. According to the release, one of the deputies spotted the car parked outside a business on Route 173 in Antioch between 10 and 11 p.m. the night of the shooting.
According to statements included in Nerheim’s release from the Lake County deputies, about five to 10 minutes after they had arrived at the location, Boyes had entered the Ford Flex and began to drive. At this point, the two Lake County deputies were joined by two McHenry County deputies, who were identified by Nerheim as Michael Urgo and Sgt. Anthony Penna. Nerheim said the four followed Boyes until he parked his car at a bar known as Toppers on Route 173 in Antioch.
The four deputies, all wearing law enforcement gear, surrounded the car, identified Boyes as the lone occupant and announced that they were police, according to the release.
Boyes was ordered out of the car and to “show us your hands,” according to the deputies, but he refused to do so. The officers then attempted to break the car windows using flashlights, but the windows did not break, the release stated.
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The deputies reported that Boyes then reached toward the front passenger seat, reached under a bag and pulled out a large silver revolver. One of the Lake County deputies, also a member of the U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, pulled his gun and ordered Boyes to drop his gun several times, according to the deputy’s statement. The deputy stated Boyes refused and that he felt Boyes was going to shoot him and his fellow officers, at which time he fired his gun at Boyes.
He said he heard other shots being fired as well. The deputy said he “stopped firing when Mr. Boyes was no longer a threat, (and) Mr. Boyes was seen motionless and had his finger on the trigger of the revolver,” the report stated.
The other three deputies reported yelling at Boyes to drop the gun and firing their guns at Boyes as well. An ambulance was then immediately dispatched.
Nerheim’s release said an autopsy revealed that Boyes was shot multiple times in the head, torso and upper extremities. Toxicological tests showed Boyes had a “high level of alcohol,” 0.243 percent, in his blood, and also that blood tests showed traces of hydrocodone and marijuana.
“Based upon this entire investigation, I conclude that (the deputies) were justified in their decision to use deadly force,” Nerheim said. Nerheim also said that in accordance with his policy on officer-involved shootings, he is also making the entire case file open to the public.
Nerheim said that once Boyes pulled out the gun, “the officers clearly believed that each of their lives (and consequently, the lives of their fellow officers) was in danger. It was only then that they fired their weapons.”
According to reports, the double homicide in Kentucky involved the bludgeoning deaths of Boyes Sr., and Potter, in their Paducah, Ky., home.
A gun safe inside of that residence reportedly had been opened, and numerous firearms and ammunition had been stolen. The tri-fold wallet of Gerald Boyes Sr. had been stolen as well, and three days after the murder, Gerald Boyes Jr. sold that same tri-fold wallet to a pawn shop in west suburban Villa Park, according to Nerheim’s release.
Twitter @jimnewton5