Police Activity

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Rantoul, Illinois — On June 7, 2023, at approximately 12:27 p.m., Rantoul Police Officer Rene Wissel located a vehicle in the 400 Block of Campbell Avenue, Rantoul, which had previously fled from officers in April. As Officer Wissel was exiting his vehicle, the driver, 20-year-old Jheremia McKown, exited and a consensual conversation ensued. As Officer Wissel continued to speak with McKown he noted a large amount of cannabis packaged in several different bags inside the vehicle. At this time, the front-seat passenger, 18year-old Jordan Richardson, exited and began running from the vehicle. Besides McKown and Richardson, there were no other occupants in the vehicle. As Richardson was running, Officer Wissel observed a gun fall to the ground. Richardson turned around, picked up the gun, and then ran southbound through the residential area. As other officers arrived in the area, Sergeant Jerry King located Richardson running in the 400 block of Belle Avenue.

As Richardson was running, Sergeant King observed that Richardson was armed with a handgun. The suspect fell to the ground and turned toward Sergeant King with the gun still in his hand. Sergeant King shot and struck Richardson with one round. After Richardson’s gun was secure, aid was rendered to him by officers and AMT Ambulance. Richardson was transported to Carle Foundation Hospital, where he later died. As Richardson was running from the vehicle, he dropped the gun three separate times. However, he stopped each time and picked the gun back up and continued running. Prior to Sergeant King shooting, police officers issued eight warnings to Jordan Richardson to either “stop” or “drop the weapon.” The handgun in Richardson’s possession of was reported stolen from Colorado Springs, CO on May 20, 2023 McKown was arrested on multiple charges including Unlawful Use/Possession of a Weapon and Delivery of Cannabis. McKown struck Officer Wissel in the face, causing minor injuries that require further medical attention. Officers located two loaded handguns inside the vehicle, a large amount of cannabis packaged for delivery, and a large amount of currency.

One less idiot in the gene pool

Phoenix, Arizona — On July 17, 2023, Phoenix Police officers were called to a single vehicle collision in a commercial area near 7th Street and Lincoln Street. The callers told 911 operators a man, later identified as 35-year-old Armando Reyes, crashed a white vehicle into a light pole. Additional calls came in stating Reyes walked away from the collision and appeared impaired and acted erratically. One caller told operators he saw Reyes walk away from the collision and after losing sight of him, heard approximately six gunshots. When officers arrived, they found an unoccupied passenger car that had collided with a streetlight. Officers saw bullet casings inside the car and witnesses told officers Reyes left on foot, east from the collision.

Additional officers responded and helped to search for Reyes. One witness directed officers to a man walking next to the railroad tracks near 18th Street and Harrison Street who matched the Reyes's description. Officers gave Reyes commands to get on the ground. Reyes began screaming and walking toward officers. Officers used a PepperBall Launcher to encourage Reyes to follow commands. Reyes continued to scream and started to walk away while officers moved forward with him. Reyes stopped and pulled out a gun. Officers commanded Reyes to drop the gun, but he did not comply and that's when the officer involved shooting occurred. After the shooting, officers moved up and provided medical aid to Reyes until fire personnel arrived. Reyes died from his injuries on scene. Two firearms were recovered next to the area where Reyes was shot.

Racine, Wisconsin — On Sunday, May 21, 2023, at approximately 11:57 p.m. Racine Police Department (RAPD) initiated a traffic stop with a green Range Rover sport-utility vehicle within their jurisdiction. During the traffic stop, the driver, 38-year-old Timothy Burgess ran from RAPD officers and hid in a park (Clayton Park) nearby. RAPD officers later found Burgess laying in tall grass within Clayton Park. From a distance, RAPD officers ordered Burgess out of the tall grass. After several failed attempts to order Burgess out of the tall grass, multiple officers moved towards Burgess’s location with a K-9 and behind shields. During the officers’ approach, Burgess fired shots at the officers. Multiple officers returned fire, striking Burgess. Burgess was pronounced deceased on scene. Once the gunfire ended Officer Lamster and the other Officers in the arrest team moved back to the squads for cover.

She checked her K-9 partner for gun shot wounds as she was concerned that her dog had been struck by the suspect's gunfire. Neither she nor her dog were injured. According to the investigative report, there are roughly 80 shots fired during the 7 seconds from the first to last shot. No police officers were injured in the shooting. The following agencies assisted: Racine County Sheriff's Office, Mount Pleasant Police Department, and the Sturtevant Police Department. Later was learned that on Sunday, May 21, 2023, at approximately 10:10 p.m., Burgess was involved in a domestic-related disturbance in Mount Pleasant, WI where shots had been fired. Burgess was last seen leaving an address in Mount Pleasant, WI operating a green Range Rover sport-utility vehicle. The Racine County District Attorney has determined that no charges will be filed against the officers who shot Timothy Burgess following the traffic stop near 6th and Howland.

Midway City, California — On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, just before 5 a.m., Orange County Sheriff's Dispatch received two 911 calls that a person was breaking into vehicles and may be attempting to break into a residence. Deputies arrive to Van Buren Street and began searching for the subject described by callers. The deputies located in open gate and enter the side yard of the home. They saw a vehicle with multiple doors open and a light on inside.

Once they approach the vehicle, they saw a man seated inside the driver's seat. One of the deputies saw that the man had an axe and told him to drop it. The man exited the vehicle and the deputies gave multiple commands to the man to drop the axe. The men advanced towards the deputies arm of the axe. The deputy involved shooting occurred. The deputies removed the axe from the man's hand, handcuffed him, called for County Fire to provide medical aid and began life-saving measures including the application of tourniquets and CPR. The man was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Reno, Nevada — On February 13, 2020, Abel Lopez-Lopez (“Lopez-Lopez”) and his wife S.L. became involved in a day-long argument, precipitated by allegations of inappropriate sexual contact between Lopez-Lopez and one of S.L.’s younger children. The 7-year-old victim reported the abuse the day before and also reported the same abuse to a teacher, who immediately reported the abuse to the police. Later that evening, SPD officers were alerted to a possible hostage situation after S.L.'s 16-year-old daughter (T.G.) called 911 after receiving text messages from S.L. saying that Lopez-Lopez was threatening to kill S.L.

Initially, SPD officers were dispatched to find S.L. and Lopez-Lopez at the Sparks Nugget Casino where S.L. was reportedly staying temporarily after learning about the alleged sexual abuse of her child. However, SPD officers failed to find S.L. at the casino. SPD then conducted an emergency phone ping to find S.L.'s phone. Officers also learned from T.G. that S.L. had texted her the address of an apartment belonging to the couple which they rented as a second residence. This information eventually led officers to 565 Sparks Boulevard 197, the Park Vista Apartments. The first officers on scene were able to confirm that Lopez-Lopez had leased apartment number 197 and began to formulate a response plan.

Once on scene, a group of officers, including SPD officers and RPD officers assigned to RGU took up a position near the apartment door. Supervisors and officers on scene considered the situation an active hostage situation and established an Emergency Action Team (E.A.T.). The team initially consisted of SPD Officer Dustin Beauford, SPD Officer Brett Zolkos, and RPD Officer Chris Rose. A short time later, SPD Officer Bryan Yee and SPD Officer Daniel Jones joined the E.A.T. Officers Beauford, Zolkos and Rose were all members of their respective agency’s Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) Teams. While staged at the door, several officers reported hearing sounds in the kitchen, including a male coughing, a female’s voice, and people talking aggressively, but no sounds of violence.

At around 8:55 p.m., S.L. abruptly opened the door, then quickly slammed it shut. Officer Beauford responded to this immediately and yelled, “Sparks Police” while also trying to kick the door open. He was not successful, but quickly turned the knob and opened the door. He then entered the apartment, followed by Officers Jones, Rose, Yee, and Zolkos respectively. Once inside, the officers saw S.L., who raised her hands and moved away from the officers and into the kitchen. Lopez-Lopez responded by raising a pistol. Officers Beauford, Jones, and Rose each discharged their firearms. These rounds struck Lopez-Lopez in the right shoulder, through his chest, right upper arm, and right hand.

Following this, Officer Rose fired one round from his 12-gauge shotgun, striking Lopez-Lopez in the left side of his head. Immediately after the shots, officers grabbed S.L. and rushed her out of the apartment. She was transported to Renown Emergency Medical Center for further evaluation and treatment. Lopez-Lopez was pronounced deceased on scene. Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks has determined that the February 13, 2020 officer involved shooting of Abel Lopez-Lopez by Sparks Police officers Dustin Beauford and Daniel Jones as well as Reno Police officer Chris Rose was justified under Nevada law.

Vancouver, Washington — On May 21, 2023, two Vancouver Police officers, Officer Gabriel Patterson and Officer Andrea Mendoza responded to a call from a Walmart loss prevention employee who was requesting law enforcement trespass two individuals who they had seen conceal merchandise and leave the store without an attempt to pay for the items. Two arriving VPD officers located the subjects matching the description in the parking lot, made verbal contact with them and informed them they were not free to leave. The male subject, identified as 19-year-old Elijah Guffey-Prejean took several steps away and Officer Patterson grabbed the subject’s arm to prevent him from fleeing. The female subject took off running and was not located.

The two VPD officers were able to get Guffey-Prejean to the ground however, before he could be handcuffed, he jumped up, punched one of the officers in the face and kicked the other officer in the chest. Both officers began struggling with him to gain control. Officer Mendoza deployed a Taser to Guffey-Prejean’s back to gain compliance, which was not effective enough to get him handcuffed. During the struggle, Officer Mendoza exposed the Guffey-Prejean’s genital area and threatened to activate the Taser if he did not stop resisting. He then complied and was able to be handcuffed. He was provided medical aid at the scene and was subsequently transported to the hospital for additional evaluation before being booked into the Clark County Jail for Assault III and Theft III.

The incident was recorded on the body cameras of both officers and security footage from Wal Mart’s camera. The reports and body camera footage were appropriately filed by the responding officers, in compliance with department protocols. Based on the supervisor’s review, this incident was brought to the attention of the office of the chief on May 24 and Officer Mendoza who deployed the Taser was immediately placed on administrative leave. The case was referred to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office on May 24 for independent investigation. Additionally, an internal VPD investigation was also opened. The Clark County Sheriff’s Office investigation was completed on July 20 and forwarded to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review. On July 25, the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed Assault IV charges on Officer Mendoza that deployed the Taser.