Without suggesting any timelines, Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said he expects thorough investigations into three recent police officer-involved shootings across the county, probes which he said will be followed by an intensive review by his office.
McMahon spoke generally at his monthly press briefing about the incidents which occurred within a two-week span last month in Aurora, West Dundee and at Delnor Hospital in Geneva. The latter case involved a Kane County Jail inmate who was fatally shot after taking a sheriff’s deputy’s gun and holding nurses hostages during a standoff at the Randall Road facility.
McMahon said it is “too early” for him to discuss particulars in any of the cases, including whether the shootings were justified. The Illinois State Police is the lead agency in the Delnor shooting, while Geneva police and the Kane County Sheriff’s Office also are conducting reviews.
“There are a lot of aspects as to what happened in that hospital,” McMahon offered, adding the case is “a lot broader” than just the shots fired in the death of inmate Tywon Salters. “I think that will be a comprehensive review. I want it to be comprehensive.”
Aside from the pending investigation, McMahon limited his comments because of a federal lawsuit filed by Delnor nurses against the sheriff’s office and corrections officer Shawn Loomis. McMahon explained that his office’s civil division will be assisted by outside attorneys — who could formally enter their appearances this week — in the lawsuit.
To avoid conflicts, McMahon said separate reviews of the Delnor case will be conducted by the office’s civil attorneys and the criminal division, something which happens infrequently, but is not a unique occurrence when a single incident is involved. He downplayed any potential concerns about his role as the ultimate decision maker for both matters citing a “history of actions speaking louder than any words I can say” about prosecuting cases involving police officers or anyone else charged with a crime.
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“We will review based on the facts and the application to the law,” McMahon said.
Aside from the Delnor shooting, Illinois State Police continue to probe the wounding of a man by federal agents during a drug investigation near Route 72 and Sleepy Hollow Road on May 17. Several divisions of the Aurora Police Department are involved in the investigation of the May 24 shooting of an Aurora man hit during an exchange of gunfire after he allegedly ran toward an unmarked police vehicle and pointed a gun at officers.
McMahon said reviews of officer-involved shootings are “labor intensive” because of the time it takes for his office to go through reports and other evidence collected by investigators. While McMahon prepares for those three cases to be in hand, the state’s attorney’s office recently found no wrongdoing by police in two deaths earlier this year.
First, an Illinois State Police investigation determined an inmate’s January death at the Kane County Jail was due to natural causes. Alan Span died on Jan. 24 of a heart attack, according to a letter McMahon sent to Kane County Sheriff Don Kramer May 25.
In a separate letter to Batavia Police Chief Dan Eul the same day, McMahon closed the investigation into the April 15 death of Joseph Graves, who sped off after a Batavia police officer attempted a traffic stop. Graves, riding a motorcycle, collided at a high rate of speed with an SUV backing out of a driveway on Wind Energy Pass.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News