PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — A central Illinois city has agreed to a financial settlement to end a lawsuit filed by the family of a suspected bank robber who officers fatally shot during a 2017 standoff.
The Journal Star reports the Peoria City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday to pay $415,000 to settle claims brought by the mother of Eddie Russell Jr., who was shot at least 17 times by officers.
Russell was 25 when he was allegedly seen on surveillance footage robbing a Peoria bank with a handgun in September 2017 before fleeing to his mother’s house.
Police say he was fatally shot there by officers as he approached them with a gun. Russell’s family argued he was lifting his mother’s garage door with both hands at the time he was shot, and that he posed no immediate threat.
