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Des Plaines police release video of officer fatally shooting ax-wielding man

Des Plaines police released bodycam videos Thursday showing an officer fatally shooting an ax-wielding man last month in an apartment building hallway.

The videos - four in all were released - show officers being directed to an apartment on the 1400 block of Thacker Street after responding to reports of a man potentially having a psychotic breakdown at 7:37 p.m. May 24.

As officers approach the man's apartment at the end of a hallway, the door opens and an officer can be heard saying "Stay right there" three times while he and his fellow officers draw their firearms and retreat. A voice replies "Get out of the (expletive) house," before the shouting intensifies.

The footage depicts the man stepping into the hallway naked below the waist and walking toward the officers while carrying what appears to be small ax. Gunfire erupts, with seven distinct shots audible, and the man falls onto his back before the video stops.

Police said the shots that struck the man were fired by officer Edwin Rios, who had stepped into a stairwell adjacent to the apartment as the man entered the hallway. Rios has been with the Des Plaines Police Department since February 2021, officials said.

After the shooting and when the scene was secured, officers provided emergency medical treatment until paramedics arrived, police said. The man, later identified as Scott J. MacDonald, 55, was pronounced dead at a hospital later that night.

In a statement accompanying the video release, police said the shooting remains under investigation by the Major Crimes Assistance Team. Their findings them will be turned over to the Cook County state's attorney's office for review.

Des Plaines police said the department also will conduct an internal investigation to determine if its procedures were followed.

Rios is on paid administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing, police said.

"This tragic loss of life impacts all of us across the city, and we will issue additional information as it becomes available," the police statement reads.

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