OAK PARK, Ill. — Authorities have charged a 37-year-old Chicago man with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a suburban police detective.
Detective Allan Reddins of the Oak Park Police Department was killed Friday morning after responding to a report of a man leaving a bank with a gun in the suburb just west of Chicago, according to police. He later died at a local hospital.
On Saturday the Cook County state’s attorney’s office charged Jerell Thomas of Chicago in the killing. Thomas was also charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Oak Park authorities alleged Thomas began shooting when approached by Reddins and other officers.
Thomas was injured in the leg and remained hospitalized Sunday with non-life threatening injuries.
No bond hearing has been set. A listed phone number for Thomas was disconnected. An email message seeking comment was left for him Sunday.
Investigators called Thomas a “habitual criminal” with a previous arrests for aggravated battery of a police officer, domestic battery, battery and resisting a police officer.
Reddins, 40, was the first Oak Park police officer shot in the line of duty since 1938, according to Oak Park officials. He had worked for the department since 2019.