Chicago area police officer killed while responding to ‘armed offender’ at bank, suspect charged

A Chicago area police officer died after he was shot while responding to a “call involving an armed perpetrator” he saw leaving a bank, officials say.

Killing Oak Park Police Detective Allan Reddins, 40, Friday “marks the first Line of Duty death for the Oak Park Police Department since 1938,” the village said in a statement.

Hours later, a suspect was charged.

Jerell Thomas, 37, who has “an extensive criminal background,” was charged with first-degree murder, police said.

“Our police department is hurting right now,” Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson said at a news conference Friday. ‘I’m in pain. His family is hurting.”

Reddins, who joined the department in 2019, was one of several officers who confronted the suspect as he left a Chase Bank location, according to Johnson. When police asked the suspect to show his hands, he allegedly pulled out a gun and opened fire on Reddins.

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Oak Park Police Department Detective Allan Reddins died Friday, Nov. 29, after he was shot while responding to a call about an “armed offender,” officials say. (Oak Park Police Department)

“At 9:36 a.m., the Oak Park Fire Department responded to a call of shots fired in the 800 block of Lake Street in Oak Park. Upon arrival, firefighters/paramedics learned that an Oak Park Police Officer, Reddins, had been shot in the left side. He was found in transported to Loyola University Medical Center in critical condition and succumbed to his injuries around 10:10 a.m.,” according to the Village of Oak Park.

‘The perpetrator was shot in the leg,” it added. “He is in custody and being treated at Loyola and is in stable condition.”

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Members of law enforcement pay their respects to Detective Allan Reddins on Saturday, November 30. (Oak Park Police Department)

Johnson described Reddins as a “devoted father” who now leaves behind his 19-year-old son, mother and siblings.

She also called Reddins a “born leader” who closed substantial cases during his time as a detective.

Jerell Thomas has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Oak Park Police Department Detective Allan Reddins, near Chicago. (Oak Park Police Department)

“I thought he would also make a phenomenal field training officer, and I was really looking forward to him becoming a sergeant,” Johnson added.

The scene in Oak Park, Illinois, where Reddins was shot on Friday, November 29.

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The Village of Oak Park says it “extends its deepest condolences to Detective Reddins’ family, friends and colleagues within the Oak Park Police Department and the broader law enforcement community as they process the grief caused by this senseless act of violence.”