Bloomingdale cops justified in April shooting of man with knife: prosecutors
WHEATON (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Prosecutors have ruled that Bloomingdale police officers were justified in the fatal shooting of a man who allegedly threatened them with a knife earlier this year in west suburban Glendale Heights.
In a statement issued Wednesday, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin wrote that his office found police “were justified in their actions and that no criminal charges will be filed against any of the officers” involved in the April 5 shooting of Julius Glover.
“Considering all the facts and circumstances, the officers’ belief that such force was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to themselves or another person was reasonable,” Berlin wrote.
Police were initially called about 6:45 p.m. for reports of a man with a knife at the Walmart store at 314 W. Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, according to prosecutors and Bloomingdale police.
The man, later identified as 26-year-old Glover, stole a woman’s car keys at the store, prosecutors said. When she demanded her keys back, Glover put his hand in his pocket and said, “Do you know who the f— I am? I am the f—ing anti-Christ.”
Glover was confronted by another shopper and a store employee, but pulled a knife on them before running out an emergency exit, the state’s attorney’s office said. Officers arrived to see Glover driving the woman’s Lexus out of the parking lot.
The officers pursued the car until it pulled over on Chippendale Road just south of Mill Pond Drive in Glendale Heights, authorities said.
Glover got out of the Lexus, reached back inside the car and then started walking away from the officers with his hands in his pockets, police and prosecutors said.
As he was walking away, one of the officers saw that Glover was holding a “large knife,” according to the state’s attorney’s office. He ignored police commands to drop the knife and threatened to stab an officer and a police dog.
Glover then ran toward the officer and the dog while pointing the knife at the officer at shoulder height, prosecutors said. When he got within five feet of the officer, that officer and two others opened fire.
The three officers fired a total of 17 shots, nine of which hit Glover, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at the scene and a partially serrated kitchen knife was recovered near his body.