Son files suit on behalf of Morris, Illinois woman shot and killed by police

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The son of a Morris, Illinois woman killed by a police officer is now suing.

Alivia Schwab, 40, was shot three times by Morris police officers on Sept. 29. Officers had rushed to the Morris apartment complex where she lived as she was having a mental health crisis.

Police said Schwab started approaching an officer while holding a knife, and an officer opened fire.

A new lawsuit filed by Schwab's son said she was under the care of mental health professionals and was transitioning from a residential facility to her own apartment at the time of the incident. Counselors called 911 after being informed she was suicidal and threatening herself with a knife, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said upon arriving in the parking lot, one responding officer told the other to "go non-lethal." The lawsuit added that the officers found Schwab in the doorway of her first-floor apartment – on her cellphone talking to the counselors in her right hand and with a knife pointed to the ground in her left.

The knife was "pointed downward in her left hand in a non-threatening manner," the lawsuit said.

The suit claimed one officer told the other to use a Taser on Schwab as she slowly walked out of the apartment, but the other officer did not do so, and then the first officer shot and killed Schwab. The suit said Schwab was still on her cellphone with the knife pointed down when police shot her.

The lawsuit says the officer who shot Schwab used excessive force, which violated her civil rights.

The City of Morris and two specific officers are named as defendants in the wrongful death suit, which seeks unspecified damages.