'I Felt Mad at the Man Who Shot My Mommy'

Only one of the McHenry County deputies shot by Scott Peters confronted the man as his punishment was handed down Thursday. And so did her 8-year-old son.

“He was hellbent on killing us,” testified Deputy Khalia Satkiewicz, who took a bullet in the leg when Peters opened fire through his front door with an AR-15 rifle at 1:30 in the morning on Oct. 16. Deputy Dwight Maness was shot in the leg and back. As the two deputies sought cover, Peters ran after them and fired more shots.

His rage has rippled through the deputies’ lives and families, several of whom testified at his sentencing.

“My kids’ faces ran across my mind,” Satkiewicz said, “and I prayed ... ‘Please don’t let me die. My kids need me.’ “

Her son Nicholas testified about how he felt when he saw his mom in her hospital bed after the attack.

“I felt mad at the man who shot my mommy,” the little boy told the court. “I’m thankful God and the other officers saved my mommy.”

Maness couldn’t be there Thursday, though he attended every day of the trial in a wheelchair. He has endured 15 surgeries to repair the wounds Peters inflicted that day at his Holiday Hills home. This week, his right leg, weakened by bone marrow drawn from the limb to repair his other leg, broke.

“The bullet has broken my leg, but not my spirit,” he said in a statement read aloud in court by another deputy, a statement in which Maness called Peters a “coward” and a “sociopath.”

Convicted in April on six felony counts of attempted murder of a police officer and nine other charges, Peters was sentenced Thursday to 135 years in prison. Unlikely to ever be freed, the 52-year-old man who screamed “I hope you’re ready to die today” as he opened fire will most likely himself die in prison.

As his victims testified, Linda Peters, the shooter’s wife, wept.

Deputies were called that day to the Peters home on a well-being check for her and her daughter at the request of a family friend who was worried about her husband’s behavior. After he shot Maness and Satkiewicz and shot at a third deputy, Peters fled. His capture followed a 16-hour manhunt.

Peters has harbored ill will toward police and the government for many years. In 1996, a Wilmette detective wrote to the Illinois State Police and asked that his firearm owners identification card be revoked. At the time, Peters had fired his gun in the apartment he shared with his wife at the time. An Army veteran, Peters ranted about his anti-government views.

Since he was jailed in October, Peters has claimed police doctored the crime scene to make it look more violent. He claimed the entire trial was rigged against him, that ringers were put on the jury. He claimed his own public defenders messed up his defense. He also claimed his McHenry County jailers were abusing him in retaliation and cried in court as he told the judge his knee hurt.

Judge Sharon Prather, who called his contentions “ludicrous,” told Peters “you continue to refuse to accept any responsibility for your actions.”

When his turn to speak came Thursday, Peters said he was sorry and explained he’s “been sick to my stomach ever since.”