Police: Crystal Lake Officer Shoots Knife-Wielding Suspect
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man was in critical condition Monday morning, after a Crystal Lake police officer shot him, when the man allegedly lunged at the officer with a knife.
Police said officers responded to a report of a domestic battery in the 300 block of West Terra Cotta Avenue around 11:10 p.m. Sunday, and were told a man in his 20s had beaten an "adult female family member," and threatened her with a knife, but the offender had fled before police showed up.
The woman was treated for injuries to her face.
A couple hours later, Crystal Lake Police received another call about an "unwanted subject" inside a home in the 800 block of Boxwood Drive, after the suspect from the earlier incident entered the second home against the wishes of the owners, and the victim from the domestic battery, police said.
The first officer who arrived heard calls of distress inside the home, and when he went in, the suspect confronted him. Armed with a knife, the suspect allegedly charged at the officer, who shot him at least once, police said.
The suspect was taken to Centegra Hospital-Woodstock, where he was in critical condition Monday morning.
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The officer was taken to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, in Barrington, as a precaution, and he was treated and released, according to police. He has been placed on administrative leave while Illinois State Police investigate the shooting, which is standard procedure for police-involved shootings in the suburbs.
Meantime, Crystal Lake police were going door-to-door, interviewing neighbors.
One neighbor said it wasn't the first time he was questioned by police about domestic violence incidents at the second home. He said there's a lot more police activity than you would normally see in such a quiet area.
"There's police activity here often, that's all I could tell you," he said. "It's not the first time I've been woken by a police officer asking me about the home next door, let's say."
