Des Plaines police release body cam video of shooting by officers that killed axe-wielding man
DES PLAINES, Ill. (CBS) -- Des Plaines on Thursday released body cam video of an incident last month in which a man was shot and killed by officers while possibly in the middle of mental health crisis.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported Thursday night, the officers were confronted by the man with an axe before they could even knock on the apartment door to which they had been dispatched.
Police were called at 7:37 p.m. Wednesday, May 24, to a unit in a condo complex at 1477 Thacker St. They were advised that Scott MacDonald, 55, was breaking things amid what might have been a psychotic breakdown.
MacDonald also potentially had access to an axe or machete, police said.
Des Plaines Officers went to the apartment complex after calls from paramedics. Four officers came down the hallway to MacDonald's condominium, unit 302, and he unexpectedly came out of the unit with an axe, police said.
MacDonald approached the officers with the axe raised, police said. Officers repeatedly told him to drop the axe as the officers still in the hall retreated, police said.
Officer Edwin Rios slipped into a nearby hallway for cover – while MacDonald advanced toward the other officers as they retreated down the hallway. Officer Rios fired his gun several times at close range from the stairwell – hitting and killing MacDonald.
MacDonald later died at an area hospital.
Police released the initial 911 call, from a woman who said MacDonald – whom she identified as her son's friend's dad – was having a psychotic break and had "destroyed everything in his house." The woman said she had heard MacDonald had taken a lot of Xanax.
MacDonald's son is then put on the phone – his voice was redacted on the call as released by police.
Body cam video then shows officers in the hallway of the condo building, as a neighbor directs them to their unit. One officer turns the door handle to the stairwell when MacDonald appears in the hallway.
One officer is heard saying, "Stay right there! Stay right there!" Another says what sounds like, "He's out of the f***ing house!" An officer tells MacDonald to put the axe down.
An officer then fires seven shots.
This scene is seen through four different officers' body cams. Some show MacDonald advancing down the hallway wearing a shirt, but apparently naked from the waist down, with an axe raised in his right hand. MacDonald falls after the shots are fired.
Des Plaines police and state statute require that an independent agency investigate police shootings. The Major Crimes Task Force – a multijurisdictional team made up of 26 police agencies – is conducting the investigation in this case, along with Cook County State's Attorney's office.
Officer Rios has been with the Des Plaines Police Department for a little over two years. Rios is on paid leave per department policy, police said.
