Man Charged In Murder Of Deputy At Rockford Hotel Due In Court
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The man charged with killing a McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy at a Rockford hotel was scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.
Winnebago County prosecutors and federal prosecutors both have charged 39-year-old Floyd Brown with murder in the death of Deputy Jacob Keltner. Brown faces federal charges because Keltner, 35. was working with a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force on Thursday, when the deputy was killed outside the Extended Stay America hotel in Rockford.
Authorities said the task force was trying to get into Brown's third-floor hotel room, when Brown opened fire with a high-powered assault rifle and shot through the hotel door, wounding his girlfriend, who was in the room with him. Brown then jumped out a window, and shot Keltner in the head in the parking lot, before fleeing the scene in his Mercury Grand Marquis.
Keltner, a 12-year veteran with the McHenry County Sheriff's Office, was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died hours later.
Sources said Brown fired shots at Illinois State Police during a chase on Interstate 55, before he spun out more than 150 miles away from Rockford, near the town of Lincoln. Following an hours-long standoff, he was arrested Thursday evening, and taken to the hospital.
His first court appearance on the federal charges has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday at the federal courthouse in Rockford.
Keltner, a husband and father of two, was described by those who know him as an honest and caring man. Visitation for Keltner has been scheduled for Tuesday in Huntley, from 2 to 8 p.m. His funeral has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Woodstock North High School.
