Protesters supporting the family of Mary Alice Love, the 37-year-old Black woman shot and killed by police last month, marched from the Mundelein Village Hall to the police department Thursday evening.
Event speakers lambasted the department and village for what they described as critical — and ultimately fatal — failures in responding to a mental health crisis incident. Protesters, gathered in front of the village hall, carried signs and wore shirts supporting the Love family and calling for police accountability.
After the release of a “critical incident briefing” video from Mundelein
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, which included 911 call tapes and clips from body camera footage of the moments leading up to when an officer opened fire on Love, Kevin O’Connor, the attorney with the Love family, said their demands for body cam footage remain unchanged.“They released a video, they released some 911 tapes. What we got was a video presentation out of something like a movie,” O’Connor said, criticizing the video. “Let it be known, they did not turn over all the videotapes.”
Additional demands include the termination of the officer who shot and killed Love, the suspension of two officers also involved in the incident, an independent investigation by the Illinois State Police and United States Department of Justice, the retraction and correction of “false statements”, a public apology to Love’s family, the identification of all involved officers, and a community accountability meeting at the next board meeting later in June.
O’Connor criticized the responding officers for how they handled the call, saying they had needlessly escalated the situation and then taken deadly force before Love had even entered the home and with “zero opportunity for her to comply.”
Initial news releases following the shooting had described Love as suicidal, and “yelling” and “aggressively” opening a door to enter the house “armed with two large knives” when the officer fired.
O’Connor said that, due to the reflectiveness of the rear door’s glass, Love could only see that her mother was being “tackled.” While she had a knife in her hand, she “never pointed it at anybody” and was shot before she entered the house.
“That is not what you’re supposed to do,” O’Connor said of the officer. “That is not what he was trained to do.”
The incident was a reflection of deeper issues of racism and the police’s response to mental health crisis incidents, O’Connor said. A crisis interventionist from Waukegan was reportedly on their way, he said, and police could have waited or done more to de-escalate.
“She was shot out of fear. And it’s the fear of the color of her skin, and because of a coward,” O’Connor said.
In attendance Thursday were numerous relatives of Mary Alice Love, including Jeffry and Johnny Love, her mother and father, respectively. Jeffry Love had been the first to call emergency services and was there when police killed her daughter.
Johnny Love called the involved officer a “liability to the police department.”
“Do you want this man coming to your door? Do you want this man training other police officers?” he asked the crowd. “I am angry, not just for myself, but for anyone that could be potentially in this situation again tomorrow.”
Speakers called for protesters to attend future village meetings to give public comment and to begin putting up purple ribbons around the community to show their support for Love. Some chants from the crowd called for jailing the officer who killed Love.
“Mundelein must pay the price,” another chant went, “for Mary Alice’s life.”
Police release incident video
In the video released by Mundelein earlier this week, Police Chief Jason Seeley speaks several times throughout. He says the officer involved is on administrative leave, pending the results of the investigation, but is a department veteran with 18 years of experience with the Mundelein Police Department, including 4 ½ years serving as a patrol sergeant.
“We understand incidents like this raise questions with the community,” Seeley said. “As this investigation continues, we remain committed to sharing information that is accurate, transparent and timely in coordination with investigators and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office.”
The video includes a slow-motion replay of the moment when the officer opens fire, including a graphic indicating a knife Love had in her hand. The graphics does not indicate a second knife noted in previous police news releases.
The State’s Attorney’s Office sent out a statement regarding the investigation. Illinois law requires outside police agencies to investigate all officer-involved shootings, and the Mundelein Police Department chose the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force as its outside agency.
According to a task force spokesperson, Dan Thomas of the Illinois State Police is commanding the investigation.
When the investigation is complete, the task force will present its results to the State’s Attorney’s Office, the State’s Attorney’s Office statement said. Lake County requires a Coroner’s Inquest is done in every officer-involved shooting as part of the investigation. The inquest has not yet occurred in this case, so the investigation remains ongoing.
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“We regret all loss of life and recognize the profound impact that officer-involved shootings have on families, communities, and the law enforcement agencies involved. We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones affected by this tragedy,” the office said in a statement.