Report: Man in Metra shootout wasn't killed by police
The man involved in a shootout with police Friday night aboard a Metra train in Deerfield wasn't killed by authorities - he died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, according to preliminary autopsy results released Tuesday.
Jamal Parks, 32, of Gurnee fatally shot himself once in the head after shooting at police officers, according to a news release from the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force, which is overseeing the investigation.
Police have not yet said how many officers fired guns, how many shots they fired or how many shots Parks fired before turning the gun on himself. The preliminary autopsy results revealed only the cause of death.
"Right now, (the head wound) appears to be the only gunshot wound, but we're waiting on the final, official reports," said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Jason Bradley.
The shootout occurred around 10:30 p.m. Friday. Police had been tracking Parks and were waiting for him to get off the Milwaukee District North Metra train at the Lake-Cook Road station. They planned to arrest him in connection with a murder in Evergreen Park. When Parks didn't get off the train, members of the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force boarded the train to get him.
Upon seeing the police, Marks moved to the train's upper level. As the police approached, he pulled out a gun and started shooting at the officers, police said. The police returned fire, and he then put the gun to his own head and killed himself, authorities said.
Other passengers were in the car at the time, but they were evacuated as the shootout took place. No one else was shot, but two officers were taken to the hospital as a precaution and released a short time later, an Illinois State Police spokesman said.
Despite the bad publicity Metra received from the shooting, Metra Director John Plante said he doesn't believe Metra officials are angry about the task force's decision to apprehend the murder suspect on the train when there were other passengers in the car.
"I don't know if they had an alternative," he said.