OAK PARK, IL (CBS) — An Oak Park police officer was shot and killed Friday morning while responding to a report that an armed man was leaving a bank. The suspect was also shot and killed by police and taken into custody.
Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson said Detective Allan Reddins, 40, had been with the Oak Park Police Department since May 2019. He was the first Oak Park officer killed in the exercise of his functions since 1938.
“This is the worst day for a police chief,” Johnson said. “Our police department, we’re hurting right now. I’m hurting. His family is hurting. Please keep us in your prayers.”
Around 9 a.m., Reddins responded to a call of an armed man leaving the Chase Bank in the 1000 block of Lake Street, according to Johnson. Reddins and other officers encountered the suspect in the 800 block of Lake Street and told the man to show them his hands.
The shooter brandished a handgun and shot Reddins in the left side. The officers returned fire, shooting the suspect in the leg.
Reddins was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead at 10:10 a.m. The suspect was also being treated at Loyola.
The shooting took Oak Park residents by surprise and left bullet holes in the windows of the village’s main library, which was closed to the public after the shooting.
A witness said she was at the nearby UPS store when she heard someone running out of a store and then heard what sounded like gunshots.
“I knew it was gunshots. I didn’t want to believe it,” she said.
Nicholas Gradishar told us he was walking to a friend’s house nearby when he heard gunshots.
“I come down after I hear the shots, then I come to the library to see it full of cops,” he said.
Gradishar said he saw police arrest the suspect after he was shot.
“They were checking his pockets. They found a small handgun, but on the side there was an ARP with a flashlight. So I don’t know which one he shot the cops with, but he had several guns on him. him,” he said.
Gradishar recorded footage of the suspect on the ground with a gun nearby. Moments later, the police took him away on a stretcher.
“Nothing happens here. There might be a fight, but nothing like that will ever happen here. So it’s a wild place,” he said.
A motorcade of police transported Reddins’ body from the hospital to the Cook County medical examiner’s office Friday afternoon. Dozens of police and firefighters from Chicago, Oak Park and other suburbs stood at attention and saluted as the ambulance arrived and Reddins’ body was escorted inside .
Johnson said Reddins leaves behind a 19-year-old son, as well as his mother and siblings.
The chief described him as a “born leader, a devoted father,” saying she personally did background checks on Reddins before hiring him as an officer in 2019.
“I quickly realized he had a talent that we needed here,” she said. “He closed important cases and helped us resolve countless incidents. He was a natural,”
Before joining the Oak Park Police Department, Reddins also served in the Metra Police Department. He has been a detective in Oak Park since 2022.
“I thought he would also make a phenomenal field training officer, and I looked forward to him becoming a sergeant. He was just a natural leader,” Johnson said. “He would always take an extra step, take an extra step, and that’s huge, to say what else can we do?”
The investigation into the incident continued Friday evening. Johnson declined to say whether the shooting was caught on video, but said Oak Park officers were equipped with body cameras.
Information about Reddins’ funeral arrangements will be posted on the Village of Oak Park website once they are made.
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