Questions remain in the police shooting that killed a Peoria man

PEORIA − Many questions remain about the shooting of Samuel Vincent Richmond on Monday night at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

The Peoria Police Department has turned over the investigation to the Illinois State Police per state law, and the agencies have declined to answer questions from media.

In the meantime, the Journal Star has highlighted questions that many seem to have, but police are not answering because of the ongoing investigation.

1. Did body camera footage capture the shooting?

It's been Peoria police policy that all officers who are on the street in a patrol capacity have a body camera. It's part of the everyday kit that officers use. The cameras require an officer to activate the system when they answer calls or begin a foot pursuit. The cameras are always on but do not begin to save a recording beyond 30 seconds until a button is pushed. When turned on, the 30-second buffer that was made before the camera was activated is saved as part of the file. Officers are to have them activated for the duration of an incident, the policy states.

When the Journal Star asked police if body cameras were on and if they recorded, Semone Roth, a police spokeswoman, said, "This is an open investigation by ISP. Peoria Police has no comment."

A call and an email to the Illinois State Police was not immediately returned.

2. Did officers try to deescalate the situation?

On Tuesday night, Police Chief Eric Echevarria gave a statement about the shooting but took no questions.

After 10 p.m. Monday, officers were called to the area on a report of one shot fired in the 700 block of Hurlburt Street. Five minutes later, another ShotSpotter alert came in in the 800 block of West McBean Street.

Officers responded to the park to see what was going on, and they found Richmond, 59. Echevarria, in a spoken and written statement to media, said four officers fired their weapons that night.

"Mr. Richmond was armed with a firearm; placing officers in a life-threatening situation where deadly force had to be used," the chief said.

He did not provide further explanation. Per departmental policy, the officers' weapons were taken.

3. Who were the officers involved in the shooting?

The four police officers who discharged their weapons were put on paid administrative leave, as is departmental policy. The Police Department has not named the officers involved or disclosed any information about them, and it is not known whether any of them have been involved in previous officer-involved shootings.

Roth, the police spokeswoman, declined comment on these questions, noting the investigation by the state police.

More:Here's what we know about the Peoria man killed by police

4. Will the officers undergo an internal investigation?

Roth referred the Journal Star to the department's online policy, which has a chapter on deadly response issues.

The policy states, in part, "The Peoria Police Department will adhere to 50 ILCS 727/1-1 et seq for an outside investigation of the incident, and shall ensure officers directly involved are placed on critical incident leave. ..." The department's "professional standards investigator shall immediately investigate all the circumstances of a firearm discharge or other deadly force used and file a report at the earliest time possible with the police chief and the officer’s division commander," the policy states.

5. What is the department's general policy on the use of deadly force?

According to the department's website, there is policy that outlines what is proper use of force.

The policy states that an officer is justified in "using force likely to cause death or great bodily harm only when he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or imminent great bodily harm to himself or to another person.

Officers shall only use reasonable force to accomplish lawful objectives, and shall apply de-escalation techniques when possible. When it is objectively reasonable that a subject is fully in law enforcement’s control, then the force must terminate."

The policy outlines the Use of Force Continuum, which lays out, in a step-by-step manner, guidelines for how much force can be used in particular situation.cIn order to accomplish lawful objectives in a deadly force confrontation, officers are authorized to use force likely to cause death or great bodily harm:

* To protect the officer or others from what is reasonably believed, based on the totality of the circumstances, to be immediate threat of death or great bodily harm.

* To prevent the escape of a fleeing forcible felon the officer reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, will pose an immediate threat of death or great bodily harm to himself or such other person should escape occur.

* Where feasible, a peace officer shall, prior to the use of force, make reasonable efforts to identify himself or herself as a peace officer and to warn that deadly force may be used.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria police shooting: What we know, don't know about deadly encounter