Man Shot 3 Times By Joliet Police Undergoes Surgery: Relative

JOLIET, IL — A man who lived with his mother at a house in the 1200 block of Nicholson Street on Joliet's west side was shot at least three times by a Joliet police officer and he was undergoing surgery Thursday afternoon at the AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center, according to his cousin.

By 3:30 p.m., the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force announced that the 29-year-old Joliet man was in stable condition at the hospital. The man had pulled a gun on one of the Joliet police officers, according to Romeoville Police Chief Ken Kroll.

The relative of the shooting victim told Joliet Patch that her cousin has had significant mental health issues and Joliet police officers "are very aware" of his mental history. At the scene of Thursday's late morning shooting, the woman told Joliet Patch, "We're hearing that he pulled a BB gun and it shot air out ... that's what the police are telling us.

"He has mental health issues," the female relative told Patch. "He's never aggressive or combative."

The relative said it was her understanding that the man shot by Joliet police was the one who called 911 to summon police to his house on Thursday morning. The shooting happened at 10:33 a.m.

Todd Mercer, a member of the Moran club, about a block away from the shooting, told Joliet Patch that he saw two Joliet police officers in blue uniforms pull up in front of the house around 10:20 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. for what seemed like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill police call to the neighborhood.

Mercer has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years. He said the two officers who approached the porch on Nicholson Street did not turn on their sirens or flashing lights.

"It was a couple of blue shirts, not captains or lieutenants," Mercer told Patch.

"It looked to me like a normal neighborhood police call," Mercer said. "The police officers standing out front on the porch didn't have their guns drawn. I didn't see anything at the house that indicated a criminal was there."

Mercer told Patch he did not see the actual shooting incident. He said he was inside his house when he heard the loud gunshots.

"I do not want people to think that I witnessed the shooting," Mercer said.

"I've never seen anything at that house," he said, referring to a large Joliet police presence. "I'm thinking it started out as more of a routine, or ordinary type call."

Mercer said that the Joliet police officers who patrol the Cunningham Neighborhood do a great job.

"I'm a pro-police guy and I believe the Joliet Police Department does great, especially the NPO's (Neighborhood Police Officers) in Cunningham."

Dan Kallan, a well-known downtown Joliet attorney, told Joliet Patch that he has owned the house at 1200 Nicholson St. since the mid-1980s. He owns eight rental properties in Joliet, Coal City and Crest Hill.

He said the house is divided into two units. On Thursday morning, the upstairs tenant kept trying to call him, but he was on the phone at the time with one of his law clients.

"I'm thinking the heat's out," Kallan told Patch during an interview in downtown Joliet on Thursday afternoon.

Kallan said he eventually learned from another neighbor "that there's a shooting, and the cops are all over the place."

Kallan said he went to his rental property and the house was swarmed with police. Kallan said the two tenants on the main level of the house were a young man and the young man's mother.

He said they moved into his rental house in 2019.

"They were excellent tenants, like all my tenants are," Kallan said. "I have no complaints about either of them."

He said the young man shot by Joliet police "has a job ... I've got nothing negative to say about them."

Kallan told Joliet Patch, "I'd like to know what happened. The police at the scene wouldn't tell me anything other than a person went to the hospital, I got the impression it was a male."

Romeoville Police Chief Ken Kroll told Patch that the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force was summoned to the scene to conduct the investigation since it involved a Joliet police officer shooting someone.

At the Cunningham Neighborhood across from the Moran AC Club, police officers from Crest Hill and the Will County Sheriff's Office were taking control over the shooting investigation.

Officers also went inside the Moran Club to review the club's outside video surveillance footage.

By early afternoon, roughly 30 police officers, perhaps more, were on the scene of Thursday's late morning shooting that left one person hospitalized.

Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk said he and new city manager Jim Capparelli were at the scene briefly and that he went to the hospital to visit with the Joliet officer. He said the officer was not shot, but it's general practice for officers to be evaluated at a local hospital after shooting someone.

The mayor said it was his understanding that Joliet police were called to the house on Nicholson Street and that's what precipitated the shooting.

"I'm confident that Chief (Dawn) Malec, the Joliet Police Department and the task force will do the appropriate work," O'Dekirk said.

Joliet resident Bob Hernandez went to the scene to produce one of his popular Facebook Live videos. According to Hernandez, a neighbor heard at least three or four gunshots and said someone was shot on a front porch at the house on the corner.

The witness told Hernandez that a Joliet Fire Department ambulance rushed the shooting victim to the hospital.

Joliet Patch will update the story as more details are known.

Thursday's incident marks the second consecutive month of a Joliet police officer shooting.

Joliet Patch reported in December that Joliet Patrol Officer Tyler Bayles fatally shot a Naperville teenager who was armed with a BB gun on Joliet's Second Avenue.