ALTON • A suspect wanted in a shooting in St. Louis County was fatally shot by an Alton police officer Monday evening at a home in the 3400 block of Lincoln Avenue.
Illinois State Police are investigating. The Madison County Coroner on Tuesday identified the man killed by police as Isaac J. Jimenez, 27, of Worden. Jimenez was identified by St. Louis County police as a man wanted in a shooting Sunday morning at a home in the 9200 block of Mackinaw Drive in the Affton area.
Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Mark Doiron said police were called to a home on Lincoln Avenue in Alton at 5:20 p.m. Monday by someone who said that there was “a wanted individual” on the back porch.
He said about four officers responded. When they approached Jimenez, he displayed a handgun.
Doiron said the man ignored several commands from the officer to drop the weapon before one of the officers opened fire. Jimenez was pronounced dead at the scene of a gunshot wound to the chest at 7:15 p.m. Jimenez also suffered other gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
Anita Heinemeier, who lives near the shooting scene, said Jimenez was the best friend of her son-in-law, Leo Romero, who lives with her daughter and their children at the home where the shooting occurred.
Heinemeier said her son-in-law had been alerted by her daughter that Jimenez was wanted by police and that police were called when Jimenez came to the house. She said her son-in-law was home at the time with his stepdaughter, 11, and two-year-old son. They got out of the front of the house before police arrived.
Heinemeier and another neighbor said they heard three shots.
She said Leo Romero and Jimenez had been friends since working together at a restaurant years ago. She said Jimenez was Romero’s best man at the couple’s wedding.
Heinemeier said she was stunned by the events. “This was the happiest-go-luckiest guy,” she said of Jimenez. "I just can't believe it. He had a good sense of humor. He was like a brother to Leo. He never did drugs as far as I knew of. He wouldn't drive if he was drinking. He'd play with the kids just like he was a little kid."
County police on Monday had called Jimenez a “person of interest” wanted for questioning in the shooting of a woman Sunday in the Affton area. They said Jimenez lived in the 400 block of East Kell Street in Worden. But police at the scene said the suspect was most recently living in St. Louis.
The woman, 27, was shot in the head in the 9200 block of Mackinaw Drive about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, authorities said. Police have not publicly identified her but said she is believed to be Jimenez's ex-girlfriend. She was in a hospital in critical condition Tuesday at a hospital.
The victim had obtained a restraining order against Jimenez, St. Louis County Police said. Investigators have not determined a possible motive for the shooting.
Doiron said the officer who killed the suspect is a 10-year police veteran. The officer is white; Jimenez was described by the county coroner as Hispanic.
Doiron said the state police will turn the results of their investigation over to the Madison County state’s attorney to determine whether the shooting was justified.
The home where the shooting occurred is on a residential street lined with brick or sided homes. "We normally don't have a lot of trouble," said Ashley Baze, 23, who came to the scene to watch with her mother, Gayla. "We don't have a lot of commotion. The kids play in the street."
