SOUTH ROXANA, Ill. — The police chief of a village in Madison County has asked the Illinois State Police to investigate after a police officer shot and wounded a man who tried to attack an officer with a knife.
South Roxana police Chief Bob Coles said the man is expected to survive. Police have not released his name or age.
The man was shot about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of Rose Avenue, east of Highway 111 and along South Roxana’s northern border. Coles said the man was shot after a domestic disturbance.
A woman had called 911 to report that someone was at the home on Rose “hunting someone,” according to dispatchers, who alerted officers that a man was barricaded in the back of a home on Rose and had access to knives.
Illinois State Police, in a news release Wednesday afternoon, said the man attacked the officer with a knife, and the officer fired his gun, hitting the man.
Dispatchers then updated surrounding agencies to say that shots were fired and that South Roxana needed backup. As police from neighboring jurisdictions learned about the shooting, officers rushed to a staging area near Jarrett Industries, at Rose Avenue and Madison Street.
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A woman who lives two houses away told the Post-Dispatch that she saw police running up and down the street. She said she heard the gunfire but didn’t see what happened.
The chief said Wednesday that everything he’s seen so far tells him that police were justified in shooting the man, but he’s asked the Illinois State Police to handle the investigation.
Officers suffered sprains and other injuries while arresting the man, the chief said. He said “multiple departments” were involved in the arrest but he declined to say more.
South Roxana is a village of about 2,000 residents in Madison County, Illinois.
Kim Bell
Kim Bell is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
