The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office said it has determined that a fatal officer-involved shooting in January in Aurora was justified as self-defense and in the defense of others.
Following this determination, the investigation into the incident is now closed, according to a news release from the State’s Attorney’s Office on Friday.
The shooting occurred in the 300 block of South Broadway in Aurora on Jan. 21, 2026. Officers, responding to a call about a person with a weapon, found a man barricaded and armed with a weapon, who displayed a knife when the officers encountered him, police said.
Aurora police officers fired shots, and the man sustained at least one gunshot wound, officials said. Officers began to render aid until Aurora Fire Department paramedics arrived, and the fire department continued to provide emergency medical care to the man, but he ultimately died from his injuries, according to officials.
The man who was killed was ultimately identified as Temesgen Welendreyas, 27, of Aurora.
Following the incident, an investigation into the shooting began.
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The investigation, conducted by the Fox Valley Major Crimes Task Force and reviewed by the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, found that Welendreyas had battered and threatened his housemate with a knife, and his housemate had contacted the police, the news release Friday from the State’s Attorney’s Office said.
Aurora police officers had been dispatched to the residence, and Welendreyas had barricaded himself in his room by the time they arrived and was refusing to come out or open the door, the news release said. Officers attempted to speak with him over a period of 17 minutes, deployed non-lethal de-escalation tools and eventually obtained a key to the door, officials said.
When officers made entry into the room, Welendreyas advanced toward them, swinging a knife, per the State’s Attorney’s Office. He also had what appeared to be a gas can in his other hand, which was later determined to have diesel fuel in it, according to officials.
Two officers fired four shots in total, disarmed Welendreyas and immediately began life-sustaining measures, the news release from the State’s Attorney’s Office said. An autopsy conducted by the Kane County Coroner’s Office determined his cause of death to have been from multiple gunshot wounds.
Now, Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said her office has determined that the shooting was justified as self-defense and in the defense of others.
Mosser said the officers made repeated attempts to de-escalate the situation, and ordered Welendreyas to show them his hands and to drop the knife when they saw it. She said, in the news release, that Welendreyas instead swung the knife at the officers and came “so close as to hit the shield that one of them was carrying.”
“The officers would have had a reasonable belief that they, along with the other officers on scene, were in danger of death or great bodily harm,” Mosser said in the news release.
Mosser went on to say in the news release that there were no violations of state law or Aurora Police Department policies by any of the Aurora personnel involved.
The investigation into the incident is now closed, the State’s Attorney’s Office said.