PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office says an officer-involved fatal shooting from February in Chillicothe was legally justified.
The shooting on the evening of February 13th left 50-year-old Marvin Martin dead, after an attempted traffic stop regarding a stolen vehicle, where gunfire was exchanged and a Chillicothe police officer was struck.
The office’s report, released on Tuesday, says the officer was fully in uniform and in a fully marked squad car with lights activated, and gave appropriate commands while attempting to answer Martin’s questions.
Martin was reportedly sitting sideways in the driver’s seat, facing outward with his feet on the ground, in a position to leave the vehicle.
Martin then reportedly raised his gun without provocation, with the officer just a few feet away from him, and fired twice at the officer from point blank range, once in his bulletproof vest and the other in the hand.
The report says the officer returned fire after recoiling from Martin’s shots. It continues by saying life saving measures were performed on Martin after other officers arrived on scene. The office says video evidence shows Martin fired first, and the officer would have died without the bulletproof vest.
Evidence collected at the scene included five fired 9mm cartridge cases in and around the vehicle Martin was in that were fired from the Smith & Wesson recovered by police. Six 40 caliber cartridge cases, found in the area the officer retreated to, from his weapon were also used as evidence.
While the report says there were no other witnesses to the incident, audio and video of the entire encounter was recorded on the officer’s body camera, squad car camera, and a nearby surveillance camera.
An autopsy conducted on Martin reportedly showed his BAC was more than twice the legal limit at the time of his death.
The report concludes by saying the officer’s actions were “justified, reasonable, and necessary” to protect the safety of citizens and himself.
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