By Mohammad Samra and Violet Miller
Updated Nov 29, 2024, 5:30pm CST
Oak Park Police Detective Allan Reddins was fatally shot in the line of duty while responding to a call involving an armed offender on Nov. 29, 2024, police said.
Slain Oak Park Det. Allan Reddins was remembered as a “natural born leader” and a “devoted” family man who was killed in the line of duty Friday morning near the public library in downtown Oak Park.
“The work he did was so impactful,” Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson said during a late afternoon media briefing.
“I personally knew him...He had a talent that was needed here.”
Chief Johnson said Reddin, a former Metra police officer, was “a natural” who “closed substantial cases.”
Johnson did not announce charges against the suspect, who was shot by another officer during the attack.
Just after 9:35 a.m., the Oak Park Fire Department responded to a shooting in the 800 block of Lake Street and found the officer, detective Allan Reddins, shot in the left side, Oak Park police said.
Reddins, a 40-year-old Chicago resident and five-year veteran of Oak Park’s Police Department, was taken to the Loyola University Medical Center in critical condition but was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. It’s the department’s first line-of-duty death since 1938.
A short time before the shooting, a gunman was seen leaving the Chase Bank branch in the 1000 block of Lake Street with a gun, which prompted the initial response, Johnson said.
The person who allegedly shot the officer was shot in the leg by another officer, officials said. He was treated at the scene before being taken to the same hospital where his condition had stabilized.
Johnson said Reddins was made detective two years ago after joining the force in 2019, and she said she had looked forward to seeing him become a sergeant. He had been on patrol due to staffing shortages.
Outside policing, she described him as a “devoted father” who is leaving behind his 19-year-old son, his mother and a “host” of friends and officers.
“He was just a natural leader, he’d always take the extra step,” Johnson said. “He was a committed officer who became a detective.”
Shortly before 3 p.m., dozens of first responders paid their respects to the slain detective after gathering outside Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where Reddins was pronounced dead.
Shortly before 3 p.m., dozens of first responders gathered outside Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where Reddins was pronounced dead.
Violet Miller/Sun-Times
Shortly before 3 p.m., dozens of first responders gathered outside Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood to pay their respects to Reddins, who was pronounced dead there after being shot on Nov. 29, 2024.
Violet Miller/Sun-Times
Shortly before 3 p.m., dozens of first responders gathered outside Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood to pay their respects to Reddins, who was pronounced dead there after being shot on Nov. 29, 2024.
Violet Miller/Sun-Times
The scene outside Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where Oak Park Police Det. Allan Reddins has died after a shooting on Nov. 29, 2024.
Violet Miller/Sun-Times
The scene outside Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood where dozens of first responders gathered after Oak Park Det. Allan Reddins died there after a shooting on Nov. 29, 2024.
Violet Miller/Sun-Times
Earlier, at mid day, several police officers, including those from Chicago, River Grove, Elmwood Park, and the Cook County sheriff’s office, stood along with Oak Park officers near the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St., which had been closed at the time of the shooting and was cordoned off with yellow and red crime scene tape.
Johnson said retired, off-duty and former Oak Park officers responded along with a slew of other agencies to help police Oak Park while officers responded.
“We have officers from other agencies who are keeping our community safe while our officers process this,” Johnson said. “We have peer support. ... We wrap our arms around each other.”
“This is the worst day...I am hurting.”
Police investigate the scene where a police officer was shot near the Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Police investigate the scene where a police officer was shot near the Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Agnes Albert, who works in the building next to the library, said she had been in the bathroom when the shooting happened, but her client heard the exchange of gunfire.
“He asked me to check what was going on because he heard fireworks,” Albert said, adding she heard a man yelling about pain in his leg being swarmed by police moments later.
“Maybe people should stay at home and watch TV instead of running with guns,” Albert said.
Police investigate the scene where a police officer was shot near the Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
A man who lives in a nearby building and didn’t want to be identified for safety reasons, said he was awoken by about six gunshots before a brief pause and another volley of rounds.
“I didn’t poke my head out the window for a while,” he said. He and his wife, who have lived there almost eight years, are going to spend the weekend at her parent’s house for the weekend to “get away,” he said.
It was the second shooting in a year on their block — the first he attributed to “kids being stupid” — and he said worries crime is on the rise.
“That one I think was just kids being stupid,” he said. “Twice in one year is kind of ridiculous. … We just want to get away from the situation and let things calm down.”
Police investigate the scene where a police officer was shot near the Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Police investigate the scene where a police officer was shot near the Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. |
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
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