Northwestern students and Evanston residents are experiencing mixed reactions as state officials begin to investigate Sunday’s police shooting.
Evanston police shot and killed a man after he stabbed an officer at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, said Evanston Police Department Cmdr. Thomas Guenther in a prepared statement Sunday night. The wounded officer apparently sustained a serious hand injury and had to undergo surgery at a local hospital. The two other officers on the scene reportedly sustained minor injuries.
Multiple witnesses at the scene reported hearing five gunshots.
The incident occurred after three EPD officers responded to a landlord-tenant dispute in a house in the 1800 block of Church Street, a little more than a mile from campus and a block and a half from Evanston Township High School.
The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Unit is investigating the incident, according to an EPD statement released Monday afternoon. The investigation could take up to four weeks.
The statement, titled “Aggressive knife wielding offender forces police into deadly confrontation,” said the shooting came when officers were “forced to act in defense of themselves by employing their service weapons.” It is still unclear how many shots were fired, how many hit the unidentified deceased man, how many officers fired their weapons and how many shots each officer fired.
Evanston police said they are declining to comment until the investigation is complete.
A representative for the integrity unit, a small task force that investigates when police use their weapon in the line of duty, said Illinois Police Detective Hunt is heading the investigation. Hunt was unavailable for comment. Members of the Illinois State Police Academy could not be reached to comment on officer training in Illinois.
The incident came up at Monday’s city council meeting.
During the call of the wards, Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) said of the slain man, “This person was not isolated. He was part of a community and part of a family.”
“I’m very sorry the man is dead and I hope the officer recovers,” said mayor-elect Elizabeth Tisdahl after the meeting.
It is “extremely rare” for police officers to use their weapons, said Mark Iris, an NU political science professor who served as executive director of the City of Chicago Police Board until 2004.
“The average number of bullets an officer fires works out to one bullet for every 20 or 30 service years, literally,” said Iris, who heard about the shooting Monday. “In some jurisdictions, it’s even lower.”
Iris stressed he did not have enough information to make an informed judgment, but speculated use of deadly force was “probably justified” in this situation.
“Is it overkill?” he said. “Maybe, maybe not. The officer is trying to stop the threat to either himself or another officer or a member of the public and we don’t know what that necessarily takes. One can be an active threat even after being shot and wounded. Whether that was the case here, we have no idea.”
The investigation is probably standard practice for incidents involving police use of force, said Iris, adding that essentially all professional police departments “treat this sort of incident very seriously and investigate thoroughly.”
While some neighborhood residents initially complained that the shooting might be an example of an inappropriate use of police force, many city residents on Monday voiced support for the police.
Several posters on the popular 8th Ward Message Board thanked the police officers for their work. News articles on Web sites for the Daily and EvanstonNow saw comments such as “If you don’t want to be shot, don’t stab someone with a knife.”
On campus, NU students expressed varying reaction to the shooting.
Medill freshman Lindsey Kratochwill said she “really hoped” officers had a reason to shoot the man, adding she understood the pressure and scrutiny police are under.
Martin Kim, a Medill freshman, said it was “a little peculiar” that more than one round had to be fired.
“Of course police have the right to defend themselves,” he said. “But they should obviously not use excessive force.”
Sara Peck contributed reporting.
Editor’s note: The headline in the original version of this article referred to an ongoing investigation about Sunday’s shooting as a “misconduct investigation.” The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Unit, which is conducting the investigation, has never classified their work as a “misconduct investigation.” The Daily regrets the error.
