MORRISON, Ill. — The Whiteside County State's Attorney has completed his review of a police shooting that resulted in the death of a 48-year-old Morrison man last October and concluded that the officer involved was justified.
State's Attorney Terry Costello made the announcement in a news release published on March 20, just one day short of five months since the incident, and explained the investigation's findings in detail.
Costello reviewed 23 hours of body camera footage, home surveillance video, physical scene analysis, radio traffic and interviews with police officers and other related parties as part of his review.
The suspect, 48-year-old Aaron Linke, was shot by Illinois State Police Trooper Stuart Baits on Oct. 21, 2022 during an ISP search warrant execution. Linke later died in the hospital due to gunshot wounds to his head.
The incident began when the ISP Special Operations Command served a search warrant at Linke's Cherry Street home following the issue of an arrest warrant for the delivery of methamphetamine.
ISP officers knocked on the home's door and announced the search warrant several times, but did not receive a response. Officers then breached the front door, tossed in a flashbang and made their way inside. Another team of officers attempted to breach the back door but were unsuccessful due to a series of multiple locks that fortified that particular door.
Shortly after police entered the house, three gunshots were heard from further inside.
As police cleared the first floor of the building, they consistently announced their agency and purpose. An elderly man was found in the living room and evacuated.
Officers then prepared to go up the stairs to the second floor, calling for building occupants to come down with their hands up, which was not responded to.
Another flashbang was tossed into the second floor and police made their way up, led by two troopers with ballistic shields. One of those troopers was Baits.
At the top of the stairs, the officers encountered Linke, who proceeded to point a pistol at Baits. Baits yelled "hands, hands, hands", and after Linke refused to follow the command gunshots were exchanged.
Linke fired a shot that struck a window near the stairway, and Baits fired three shots that struck Linke in the head.
While searching the incapacitated Linke and providing medical attention, officers found a rifle around his chest, a sawed-off shotgun near his leg on the floor, the pistol that he had fired, a shotgun shell in his hand and a knife in his pocket.
As officers searched the second floor, they found a man in a bedroom and a woman in a bathroom. The woman complained of pain in her abdomen, the source of which was found to be a gunshot wound. Through analysis of the bullet's trajectory, investigators determined that the shot had been fired by Linke.
Evidence suggests that Linke was aware that police were headed to his home even prior to their knocking — Linke had constructed an elaborate home surveillance system that covered both the inside and outside of the building with live video feeds. Footage from this system showed that Linke was awake and moving around the house shortly before the police arrived.
In addition to the weapons found on his person, police found two long guns laying on the bedroom he was previously occupying. The ISP investigation, using all of this evidence, determined that Linke was prepared to battle the police.
State's Attorney Costello determined that Trooper Baits had followed proper procedure and Illinois's deadly force laws, concluding that Baits acted in self-defense when she shot Linke, and that his actions were justified and lawful.
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