Man allegedly armed with knives wounded in Aurora police shooting now facing charges: records
Kristopher I. Cross shot near 900 Colorado Ave., Aurora, IL
AURORA, Ill. (WLS) -- The man accused of charging at Aurora police officers with knives in-hand before being shot and seriously wounded over the weekend now faces attempted murder charges, among others, records show.
Kristopher I. Cross, 21, of the 900-block of Colorado Avenue, was charged on Wednesday with two counts of attempted murder. He also is charged with unlawful restraint, aggravated assault of a peace officer and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, ABC7 Chicago news partner the Daily Herald reported.
It started with a 911 call, police say, made by a relative in a home on Colorado Avenue near Elmwood Drive about another family member armed with knives.
"When officers arrived on the scene, they encountered the subject holding the knives in the doorway of the home, threatening to kill everyone," Aurora Police Chief Keith Cross said. "Officers made efforts to verbally de-escalate the situation."
Cross said "less lethal options" were used. Police said the confrontation then spilled into the garage area.
"The armed subject charged an Aurora police officer who, while retreating, was forced to discharge their firearm to protect themselves," Cross said.
SEE ALSO: Man shot, wounded by Aurora police officer during mental health crisis: family
Family of the man who was shot told ABC7 Chicago he has mental health issues known to police.
Investigators confirmed officers did respond to the home multiple times before - in fact, as far back as 2017 - but wouldn't disclose the nature of those calls.
Despite that history, police say a mental health crisis responder was not on the scene.
This comes after the I-Team spoke with Aurora PD in August about its newly-formed Crisis Intervention Unit, or CIU, consisting of specially trained police investigators and social workers to address the increasing number of mental health crisis calls.
But, those resources are not always available.
"We have to look at our resources to see if we could actually send someone, but that wasn't the call that came in," Cross said.
The man's family said earlier this week he was shot multiple times throughout his body, and is being sedated at the hospital.
The officer involved in the shooting was also transported to the hospital, per policy, but has since been released.
An independent agency is conducting an investigation and the Aurora Police Department has turned over its investigation to the Kane County Major Crimes Task Force.
Aurora police would not say if the man's condition has since improved.
