Witnesses testify at trial for man accused of shooting, killing Illinois police officer
KANKAKEE, Ill. (CBS) -- Multiple witnesses have testified during the murder trial of a man accused of shooting and killing a Bradley police sergeant and injuring another officer in 2021.
Prosecutors said Darius Sullivan shot and killed Bradley police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic with her own service weapon in December 2021. Xandria Harris, 26, was also charged in the crime. Her trial date has not been set.
As of Thursday, nine witnesses have taken the stand for the prosecution since the trial began on Wednesday. They ranged from family to hotel staff, to law enforcement, and even a close friend of the defendant.
Rittmanic and her partner, Tyler Bailey, were responding to a call about barking dogs in a parked car outside a hotel in Bradley. Prosecutors said Bailey ran the license plate of the car with the barking dogs and found it belonged to Harris.
Prosecutors said Rittmanic and Bailey went upstairs to the hotel room where Harris and Sullivan were staying with the intention of issuing a ticket for a local noise ordinance violation against Harris because of the barking dogs and arresting Sullivan on outstanding warrants.
Harris initially kept officers waiting at the hotel room door but then tried to squeeze past the door and close it to prevent officers from arresting Sullivan, prosecutors said. Sullivan came from around the room with gun in hand and shot Bailey in the head, prosecutors said.
Sullivan then chased Rittmanic down the hallway, and disarmed her to get a hold of her gun when his gun jammed, prosecutors said. He fired the shots that killed her as she lay on the floor, prosecutors said.
Bailey was left critically wounded by the shooting, and spent nearly a year in a rehab hospital.
One witness, Bryce Baker, is a long-time friend of Sullivan. Baker testified he drove to meet Sullivan near Cincinnati after the suspect called saying he messed up hours after the shooting.
"He had said that he went to go turn himself in and he was hiding guns in the bathroom when he walked out and seen that the male officer was attacking [Harris], so he ended up shooting him I guess," Baker said. "And then pursued the female officer down the hallway and got into a struggle with her, and ended up shooting her as well."
Baker was later arrested after tossing a Glock 9 wrapped in a white towel into a lake. That gun was believed to be the weapon Sullivan used to shoot Bailey.
The Kankakee State's Attorney told the jury that Rittmanic was heard on police body camera recordings begging Sullivan not to shoot her.
Prosecutors said he stood over her and fired the gun twice.
The defense said Sullivan thought someone was breaking into his room, not police, and he was trying to protect his family. He has three children who were also in the room.
Sullivan's trial is expected to last two weeks.