Where Things Stand on Joliet Police Shooting
Last week marked the first time this year that a Joliet Police offer has shot and killed a criminal suspect since March 2015.
The death of Joliet bank robbery suspect Bruce Carter Jr. at a house on the southeast side of Joliet was the first time in four years that a Joliet officer has killed someone. The investigation into the fatal shooting is being led by the Will-Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force, overseen by Romeoville's Deputy Chief of Police Kenneth Kroll. As this is still being updated daily by Joliet police, this article will be addressing where the investigation currently stands.
According to the Joliet Patch, the bank robbery occurred at 9:28 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6 at the First Midwest Bank, 1415 W. Jefferson St. Later that morning, Carter was shot by police at his mother's house at the corner of Wallace and Des Plaines streets, about two blocks south of the Joliet Police Station. According to Google Maps, it's a five-minute drive and exactly two miles from the bank to the house on Des Plaines if you travel over the Jefferson Street Bridge heading east.
Carter was not a seasoned criminal but was arrested back in February 1999 on felony charges of armed robbery. He had plead guilty to charges reduced to robbery. He was sentenced to two years of court probation and sentenced to time served according to the Patch.
On Wednesday, Joliet's Police Department, led by Chief Al Roechner, issued a press release shortly before 5 p.m. explaining that officers went to the house on Des Plaines Street "as part of a follow-up investigation to a bank robbery. On Des Plaines, an officer became engaged with an armed adult male. The officer was forced to defend himself and the armed adult male was shot by the officer."
On Thursday evening, Romeoville's deputy chief of police Kenneth Kroll issued a follow-up press release explaining the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force was activated to investigate the Joliet shooting since it involved a Joliet Police officer. Kroll's press release was more precise than the press release put out by Joliet Police the previous day. "The Joliet Police went to this residence while investigating a bank robbery that occurred earlier in the day. Police were speaking with Bruce Carter when, according to a witness and corroborated by physical evidence, a physical struggle ensued near the front porch of the residence. Mr. Carter was armed with a box-cutter style razor knife during this struggle. The officer discharged his firearm, striking Mr. Carter."
At of the time of this writing, the police officer’s name has yet to be released for privacy and investigation reasons and may be released per the end of the investigation.
A 2018 article in the Chicago Sun-Times explained the police are justified to use deadly force in Illinois "when (the officer) reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or such other person." The newspaper article went on to state that "the law also requires either that the person 'has committed or attempted a forcible felony which involves the infliction or threatened infliction of great bodily harm,' or 'is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon,' or 'indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict great bodily harm unless arrested without delay.'" Taking this article in regard, it would appear that the Joliet shooting that has been justified by the police officer.
