ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — A 25-year old man from Rock Island was shot and killed in an incident with police Thursday night, April 1.
Around 6:20 p.m. police said they saw a wanted suspect who was considered armed and dangerous. When police approached, he fled and police saw that he had a gun.
Police continued to chase the man to the Kum and Shop gas station" where the suspect hijacked a car from a female bystander," according to a statement from the Rock Island Police Department.
According to the statement, while officers were trying to pull him from the car, he started driving in reverse "dragging multiple officers." He then crashed into the building. That's when multiple officers fired their weapons.
The man, identified as Deshawn Tatum, was taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries.
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The following statements were released Friday, the day after the shooting, by current Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms, and challenger Thurgood Brooks. These candidates are running in an election Tuesday, April 6.
Statement from Mike Thoms:
"Any time there is a death or an injury during a law enforcement operation, it's heartbreaking. I'm heartbroken for everyone involved. Everyone. I'm heartbroken for the officers who were doing their job and got injured in the line of duty. I'm also heartbroken for family members grieving their loss.
“Rock Island is a community and today we have families grieving loss. We have officers injured in the line of duty. This is a tremendous blow to our community.
“It’s important for everyone that we remain patient and allow The Rock Island County Integrity Task Force – an intergovernmental task force amongst Illinois Quad-Cities police executives focused on investigating matters of integrity by law enforcement – to conduct an independent investigation. In the meantime, we need to maintain public safety accordingly and I ask everyone to show kindness, respect, and civility as we move through this process together.”
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“There is much work to be done. Transparency and honesty are the best routes to answer any questions about what happened and whether policies were followed. We must show kindness, respect, and civility toward each other as we move through this process. Let’s work hard to protect each other, and keep our community safe.”
Statement from Thurgood Brooks:
"Last night we learned of a fatal shooting in Rock Island. I feel deep sorrow for all those who have been affected and I am sending my sincerest condolences. They are in my thoughts and prayers.
"But let us be clear that thoughts and prayers are not enough. A Rock Island human was killed, officers were injured, and we are only beginning to learn of the details of what happened. What we can say with confidence is that there is great suffering. Friends and family of the deceased suffer, the community suffers, the police officers who were directly involved and their loved ones suffer, we all suffer together. In the aftermath of something like this we feel helpless, traumatized, and at a loss for how to support those who are grieving and whose lives have been thrown into disarray.
"We must get to a point where everyone is in a better position before such incidents occur. We must provide police officers not just training but the resources that improve their working conditions and strengthen their mental health in general. We must bring our community to the table to learn from Black and brown residents, from women, from youth, from convicted felons, from police officers – from everyone. Only then can we understand the interconnected challenges faced by our community, and only then can we begin to move forward with initiatives that are effective and make improvements across the board. We must build trust between community and law enforcement and only then can we hope to create interventions that aim at avoiding future incidents of this sort.
"My commission will do exactly that, and I want to be clear that this is what The Resolution has been working toward and will continue to work on. When we read the news about what happened, we tend to start our thought process at the point where an incident was already under way and we can’t picture an alternative outcome. We must start our thought process at a much earlier stage. What elements of our community could have collaborated to avoid such a situation occurring in the first place? We must think much more deeply about the relationships in our community, and let’s be clear: our police officers are part of our community. We must change the fabric of distrust and fear that governs so many situations now. When I say that we must RE-fund the police, I am talking about creating better conditions from the ground up. I am talking about making alternative solutions possible. I am talking about making sure that what happened last night in Rock Island never happens again.
"As your mayor, this will be one of my highest priorities and this work will start on day one!
"Finally, we are experiencing a collective trauma. Our team has put out a guide to trauma on our social media pages. I encourage everyone to check in with the people you love and look out for one another’s mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In times when we feel unsafe or when things are uncertain, we have to hold on to one another a little tighter."
