Blue Island shooting: Man shot to death police officer ID'd by medical examiner
Police said William Burruss was reaching for a gun when he was shot
BLUE ISLAND, Ill. (WLS) -- A man was shot and killed by Blue Island police Thursday morning, police said.
Officers responded to the 2000-block of Broadway street at about 1:35 a.m. for a suspicious vehicle complaint and found a man unresponsive in the driver's seat with the door open, police said.
Officers observed an AR-15 style weapon on the front passenger seat and they attempted to wake the man after more officers arrived, police said.
After he was awakened, police said he reached for the front passenger seat and an officer fired a shot, hitting him in the torso.
He was transported to Advocate Christ Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Cook County Medical Examiner later identified him as 21-year-old William Burruss of Olympia Fields.
Some nearby heard noise, but didn't see the incident.
"I just woke up in the middle of the night, and I don't know. For some reason, I saw a big flash, but I wasn't thinking too much of it," said Yelissa Allen. "It's a really messed up situation because, police, you have like the training to know where you can shoot somebody, like incapacitate them, in the way they killed them. I understand self-defense and all that, but it's a million different ways they can handle the situation."
Burruss recently moved into an apartment on Broadway, and was parked on the street near the apartment.
The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave. The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force is investigating the shooting.
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