Oak Park police release body camera video from shootout that killed Detective Allan Reddins
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Oak Park police have released body camera video from the November 2024 shootout that killed Detective Allan Reddins, who was responding to a call of a man with a gun leaving a bank.
Around 9 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2024, the day after Thanksgiving, Reddins and several other officers responded to a call of a person with a gun leaving the Chase Bank on Lake Street, near the Oak Park Public Library.
Police on Thursday released body camera footage from five officers involved in the shootout, including Reddins.
Footage from Reddins' body-worn camera shows him approaching the suspect – later identified as 37-year-old Jerell Thomas – and telling him, "Don't reach, bro. Don't reach. Keep your hands up."
Video from a second officer's body camera shows that officer also approaching Thomas, and asking, "Can I talk to you for a second, sir?"
Thomas: "How you doin'?"
Second officer: "Good, how are you?"
Thomas: "I'm alright."
Second officer: "Keep your hands. Don't reach, don't reach, don't reach, don't reach. Put your hands up."
Thomas: "I have to go back home."
After that brief exchange, Thomas can be seen raising his gun and firing.
While the footage from Reddins' camera stops after one shot was fired, in the second officer's video footage, at least six shots are heard as he takes cover.
Footage from that officer and three others who responded to the scene shows officers slowly approaching Thomas as he's hiding behind a pillar outside the library.
Multiple officers can be heard telling Thomas to drop his weapon and come out.
One officer armed with a rifle positioned himself behind a squad car outside of the library. While the view of his camera was as he took cover, his camera can be seen shaking each time as he fired four shots after Thomas was repeatedly warned to drop his gun.
Yet another officer who was the last to arrive on scene can be seen approaching the library from the east, telling his fellow officers "I'm on his flank."
That officer can be seen firing two shots from his handgun, and Thomas immediately collapses.
As several officers surround Thomas on the ground, he can be heard screaming in pain, and shouting "Ow, my leg" as he's handcuffed and an officer starts placing a tourniquet on his left leg before he says he was shot in right leg.
"It's gotta be tight, it's gonna hurt, to stop that bleeding," an officer told Thomas as police applied a tourniquet to his right leg.
The officer who shot Thomas can also be heard telling other officers to check his head.
"I may have hit him in the head, so check his head," he said.
The footage released by police shows an officer recovering a handgun from under a bench near Thomas outside the library after he was shot.
Former Chicago Police First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio said the video shows textbook police procedure in dealing with an armed suspect and remaining at a distance until the suspect was down.
"I think anyone looking at this would say these officers were very well trained," he said. "So many of these fatal encounters between police officers and offenders are very close. So this was really different, in that the distance was really a relatively large distance, and, you know, to fire a shot like that, and to hit somebody, and to kill them from such a distance really adds to the tragedy itself."
After the shootout, Reddins was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. He was the first Oak Park police officer killed in the line of duty since 1938.
Described as courageous, determined, and charismatic, the five-year veteran of the Oak Park police department was called a dedicated family man. He was immensely proud of his son, Jayden, an honors student at Morehouse College.
Hundreds of Reddins' fellow officers, family, friends, former classmates, and community members attended his funeral last month in Chicago, where he lived.
"We celebrate his legacy—a legacy of kindness, resilience, and an unshakable faith in those he cherished," said Evanston police Chief Schenita Steward. "The first qualities that come to mind are his loving and supportive nature."
Thomas also was treated at Loyola after the shootout, and has since been indicted on 56 felony counts, including murder, attempted murder, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, use of a stolen firearm, and resisting arrest.
He is due back in court on March 4.
On Nov. 30, 2024, Jerell Thomas of Chicago was charged by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office with first-degree murder in connection with Reddins' death. Since being indicted, Thomas is now facing up to 56 felony charges including attempted murder of a peace officer, possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. He remains in custody and is due to appear next in the Circuit Court of Cook County on March 4 for a court status.
