State's attorney: Trooper justified in using lethal force in St. Joseph standoff
Aug. 23—URBANA — An Iowa man killed in a standoff with Illinois State police in southeastern Champaign County last month was trying to get the officers to shoot him, a report concluded.
Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz on Wednesday found that Trooper Matt Hedges was justified in shooting Randy Jackson on July 4 outside a barn south of St. Joseph.
"Jackson's actions could reasonably be interpreted as designed to induce an officer to fire upon him," Rietz concluded in a four-page report. "Trooper Hedges both genuinely and reasonably believed that deadly force was necessary to prevent an imminent infliction of death or great bodily harm on himself and/or fellow officers."
Mr. Jackson's death early on July 4 culminated a 33-hour spree in which the 39-year-old man shot one man in Clinton, Iowa, at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, July 2, then fatally shot a 20-year-old Clinton, Iowa, woman who was outside a hospital.
Mr. Jackson then fled from Iowa, making his way into Illinois, where the vehicle he was in was spotted in Danville. Police stopped it at about 6:45 p.m. Monday, July 3, and found Mr. Jackson hiding on the rear floorboard, covered with items.
When he realized he had been discovered by police, Mr. Jackson had the female driver get out and he jumped in the driver's seat and took off.
About 7:20 p.m., a Vermilion County sheriff's deputy spotted the vehicle and tried to stop it.
The deputy's lights and sirens were activated but Mr. Jackson, exceeding 100 mph at times, even in residential areas, refused to stop. Deputies ultimately terminated the chase for safety reasons.
About four hours later, a Department of Natural Resources officer found Mr. Jackson's vehicle in a cornfield outside of St. Joseph and located him in the loft of a garage at 2200 County Road 1300 N, about three miles south of St. Joseph.
Although the DNR officer did not see weapons, Mr. Jackson immediately began threatening the officer, saying "You better shoot me or I'm going to (expletive) kill you," a threat he repeated. That prompted the officer to take cover and call for help.
The state police SWAT responded, and based on Mr. Jackson's earlier threats, believed he was armed. A crisis negotiation team was also enlisted to help talk to Mr. Jackson.
The report said that for the next five to six hours, Mr. Jackson "presented defiantly," refused to surrender and repeatedly threatened to kill anyone who entered the garage, including any police dogs.
He also broke two different drones sent in to size up the situation and then barricaded a vent through which police were injecting a chemical irritant designed to get him to come out. A second round of chemicals didn't work, either.
About 5:30 a.m., as police were trying to figure out their next move, Mr. Jackson came out "in a rapid or aggressive manner ... angling his body to conceal a hand behind a leg."
Several officers ordered him to show his hands but he refused. A trooper saw what he believed to be a gun in Mr. Jackson's hand and yelled out to the others that he had a gun. That trooper repeatedly ordered him to drop what was in his hand but Mr. Jackson would not.
Trooper Hedges saw Mr. Jackson holding what he thought was a snub-nose nickel plated revolver. The trooper described him as moving in an "erratic fashion with a bizarre expression."
When Hedges saw Mr. Jackson move his hand so it appeared he was about to fire a gun, Hedges fired his duty gun, hitting Mr. Jackson.
Police later determined the object he was holding was a car emergency exit tool, sometimes called a window punch or a glass breaker. It had a nickel finish, a grip similar to a handgun grip and a horizontal protuberance that made it look like a short-barreled handgun. Mr. Jackson had taken it from a car that was in the garage.
Police quickly got Mr. Jackson loaded into an ambulance since the chemicals in the area made it impossible for them to give him any first aid there. He did not survive his injuries.
Evaluating the use of force by police in general, Rietz concluded it was appropriate given that Mr. Jackson was wanted for two shootings, one of which was fatal; had fled from police in multiple jurisdictions; and had refused to cooperate with officers trying to coax him out of the garage peacefully.
