A McDonough County judge denied pretrial release for Shaiking Mathis, 38, who is accused of shooting two Macomb police officers on Wednesday night.
Mathis appeared via video from the McDonough county jail for his first court hearing on Friday afternoon. He is charged with four counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm.
Detective Nick Severs was shot in the hip and Sgt. JP McLaughlin was shot in the leg while trying to execute a search warrant at Mathis’s residence. Both were taken to local hospitals and later transferred to a trauma center in Peoria. Both were released Thursday and are recovering at home.
Mathis is also accused of firing at Lt. Todd Tedrow, but he was not hit.
The state’s case
State’s Attorney Matt Kwacala said officers went to the home at 309 N. Normal St. to investigate an alleged sexual assault from earlier in the day. He said they wanted to get Mathis’s side of the story.
Kwacala said police knocked on the front door and announced their presence several times. When no one responded, they obtained a search warrant, knocked and announced again, and when no one responded they pried open the door. They were fired upon immediately, and several officers fired back into the house.
A nearly 20-hour standoff ensued.
Kwacala said law enforcement tried to negotiate with Mathis, but he refused to come out until an attorney was present.
Kwacala said that at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, an Illinois State Police SWAT team tried to get inside the house, but they were fired upon from inside. No one was injured.
Eventually, Mathis’s attorney arrived from the Chicago area, and Mathis agreed to surrender mid-afternoon on Thursday.
Kwacala said investigators found two handguns in the house – one a 9mm and the other a .25 caliber, along with ammunition. Investigators also found more than half a dozen shell casings.
“Two officers were shot. We could have had many more,” he said. “He ambushed officers.”
Kwacala said Mathis poses a danger to the public safety and should be detained until the next court hearing.
He also said Mathis had two prior felony convictions – one from 2004 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the other from 2010 in Cook County. As a convicted felon, Mathis should not have owned firearms. In addition, he had no FOID card.
Mathis did not have a violent history
Defense attorney Michael Jarard of Jarard Law Group LLC in Chicago said Mathis should be released from jail and placed under house arrest with pretrial monitoring.
“He’s never had violent crimes before,” Jarard said. “He’s a low-level risk.”
He said Mathis is a filmmaker.
Jarard said there is no evidence that Mathis knew it was police officers who were breaching his home.
The judge’s decision
Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Nigel Graham called the shooting a violent crime.
He pointed out Mathis refused to surrender for nearly 20 hours, and that in the middle of the night he fired on Illinois State Police officers. He said it should have been clear by then that it was police who were trying to enter the house.
Graham also said that as a convicted felon, Mathis should not have had firearms.
The judge said if he granted house arrest and Mathis violated conditions of his release, a similar situation could develop. He also expressed concern for the safety of an unarmed probation officer checking on Mathis.
Graham denied pretrial release and set the preliminary hearing for Sept. 30.
Graham said two of the aggravated battery to a police officer charges against Mathis are Class X felonies, each punishable by 15-60 years in prison. The other two aggravated battery to a police officer charges are Class 2 felonies, punishable by 3-7 years in prison.
In addition, the single count of aggravated discharge of a firearm is a Class X felony, punishable by 10-45 years in prison.
Kwacala said he expects to file more charges.
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