Police: Des Plaines man fatally shot by officer was wielding hedge trimmer

The father of a Des Plaines man who was fatally shot by police Wednesday said his son had bipolar disorder and was experiencing a mental health episode so severe that his mother called 911 for help.

An officer responding to that call shot 21-year-old Ayham Babidi as the young man advanced toward him with an electric hedge trimmer, police disclosed Thursday.

An autopsy performed Thursday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office revealed Babidi died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Des Plaines police went to the Babidi house on the 2000 block of East Touhy Avenue about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. They’d been told someone was acting violently and breaking windows, according to a news release issued Thursday.

The first officer who arrived stopped in the roadway near the house and encountered Babidi in the front yard with the hedge trimmer, police said. Babidi held the trimmer “in a threatening manner” while approaching the officer and refused commands to drop the tool, police said.

As Babidi continued toward the officer and backed him into oncoming traffic, the officer fired three times, police said. The officer provided medical aid until other officers and paramedics arrived, police said.

A police spokesperson wouldn't say if the trimmer was running as Babidi approached.

Babidi was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and was pronounced dead at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The Major Case Assistance Team is investigating. Police said they have video of the shooting from the camera in the officer’s vehicle and residential security cameras, but they won’t release it now to avoid compromising the investigation.

The officer was not able to activate his body-worn camera because the confrontation escalated quickly, police said.

While a stretch of Touhy Avenue was shut down Wednesday afternoon as police investigated the shooting, the neighborhood seemed to be back to normal Thursday. A scrap of police tape on the ground across Touhy Avenue from Babidi’s house was among the few reminders of the violence that had occurred.

At the Babidi house, four broken front window panes remained exposed, with many large and small glass shards atop the sill, a nearby garbage bin and the ground below.

Babidi was a 2023 graduate of Maine West High School in Des Plaines, a District 207 spokesperson confirmed Thursday. He subsequently attended classes at Oakton College in Des Plaines, most recently in 2024, a spokesperson said.

Babidi’s father, Jamal Babidi, didn’t witness the shooting or the events leading to it. But he insists his son wasn’t a dangerous person.

“My son is not scary,” he said. “He never hurt nobody.”

Still, the elder Babidi said his son sometimes “goes crazy” because of his bipolar disorder. He said his son had been hospitalized repeatedly because of his mental illness.

“Sometimes they give him the right medicine, sometimes not,” Jamal Babidi said.

Jamal Babidi said he had talked with his son Tuesday night about seeking treatment again at a hospital because of his behavior.

They didn’t go.

rlissau@dailyherald.com