‘This number defined accountability’: $10.5 million settlement reached in fatal Elk Grove Village police shooting

Elk Grove Village has inked a record $10.5 million settlement with the estate of a 24-year-old man fatally shot by police in 2023.

The family of Elk Grove Village resident Jack Murray brought the wrongful-death lawsuit against the village a little over two years ago, alleging four officers were negligent and violated their policies and training in the Dec. 1, 2023, shooting.

It’s believed to be the largest reported civil settlement involving a police shooting in Illinois in which the person killed was not a bystander, according to the family’s representatives.

The settlement came as the case was inching closer to a jury trial. The parties went through mediation led by a retired judge in May.

“This amount of money does send a clear message. A number over $10 million does raise eyebrows,” Murray family attorney Antonio Romanucci said Wednesday. “It should perk up other village managers and attorneys and mayors’ ears, whether it’s cities or villages across Illinois, that officers must follow the rules. And if they don’t, there’s accountability. This number defined accountability in a record way.”

Elk Grove Village board members voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the settlement, general release of claims against the village and its officers, and covenant not to sue, which was recommended by the municipality’s insurance carriers.

Still, Mayor Craig Johnson remained defiant, defending the cops’ actions and saying the insurers gave the village an “ultimatum” that left “no prudent choice” but to accept the negotiated settlement. Otherwise, the village would risk the civil case going to trial and possibly be left on the hook for ongoing legal defense and a jury award, he said.

As it stands, the full payment for the settlement comes from the insurance carriers, not taxpayers, Johnson said.

“I am beyond disappointed with the outcome, given that our officers were completely exonerated in their actions by multiple agencies, and I commend them for following the appropriate protocols that they’ve been taught throughout a tense and difficult situation,” the mayor said at the village board meeting.

He mostly read from prepared remarks, until a parting comment: “In this village, we back our blue 1,000%. Our officers were exonerated, and that needs to be remembered on this.”

Romanucci fired back at those remarks during a downtown Chicago news conference Wednesday attended by Murray’s family and friends.

“To a great extent, I’ll admit, I back the blue too. But only when they act appropriately, only when they follow the rules,” he said. “If you don’t follow the rules, we’re going to make you account for that. If your officers meet a person in crisis with bullets instead of the care, planning and de-escalation they are supposed to provide, you’ll be held accountable.”

Romanucci previously argued Murray was in a diminished and impaired mental state when he called 911 the afternoon of Dec. 1, 2023. After officers arrived outside his house on Fern Drive, Romanucci said, they failed to use de-escalation tactics or give Murray the “the time, physical space and ultimately the desperate assistance he needed.”

Murray, who was walking along a sidewalk near his home while carrying an 11.5-inch knife, was ordered by officers to drop the knife. They then deployed a Taser, before firing five gunshots toward Murray, according to police body-worn and dashboard camera footage.

One officer used a nonlethal beanbag shotgun, but only after other officers fired their guns first, said co-counsel Joshua Levin.

Levin argued officers didn’t follow their department’s own policy and training for how to handle encounters with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, and failed to use crisis intervention communication techniques to de-escalate the situation.

Donna and Tom Murray, Jack’s parents, fought back tears Wednesday as the attorneys described the sequence of events and aftermath of Dec. 1, 2023. They left the room for a brief time before returning, when Donna came to the podium to address reporters and family and friends.

Like many in the room, she wore a white T-shirt with the text “Justice for Jack 12-1-23.”

“We are truly fractured. We are broken, and that can never be fixed,” Donna Murray said. “We do not want Jack’s memory to be of that video — that video the village of Elk Grove put out 2⅟₂ years ago. We want all of you to know him, the real him. Yes, he struggled. But those struggles do not define him.”

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke in September 2024 declined to bring criminal charges against the two officers who fired shots, saying the evidence established the use of deadly force was “objectively reasonable.”

“Both officers had a reasonable belief that Jack Murray placed the officers or others in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death,” according to a memorandum issued by Burke’s office.

Burke referred the case to the Office of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, which concurred in February 2025.

“Those were all criminal reviews,” said Romanucci, who said he respected Burke’s decision to decline criminal charges, agreeing there was likely no criminal intent. “Here, right here, is the review of civil justice, and that was obtained.”

Added attorney Levin: “A decision not to bring criminal charges is not a decision stating that the officers did no wrong. It really shifts the arena of accountability to the civil justice system, and that’s what this settlement shows.”