No criminal charges against Mundelein officer who fatally shot woman; lawsuit filed
Five months after a Mundelein woman experiencing a mental health crisis was shot dead by police in her home, Lake County prosecutors on Thursday announced no criminal charges will be brought against the officers involved.
In related activity, a federal wrongful death lawsuit was filed Thursday against Mundelein and police Sgt. Christopher Brigano, the 18-year department veteran who reportedly killed 37-year-old Mary Alice Love.
State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart and senior prosecutors met with Love’s family Thursday to personally deliver the decision before revealing it publicly. Mundelein Police Department officials were informed as well.
The decision on criminal charges doesn’t mean investigations into the shooting are done. Mundelein still has a “separate responsibility” to determine if officers’ actions during the deadly May 11 confrontation “were consistent with departmental policies, procedures and training,” the department said in a lengthy statement Thursday afternoon.
“We intend to complete the review thoroughly and without unnecessary delay,” the statement reads. “When it is complete, we will communicate our findings and the resulting administrative status of the involved officer to the fullest extent permitted by law.”
The department owes the Love family, the community and its employees “a fair, complete and responsible conclusion to this process,” the statement concludes.
Mary Alice Love was killed May 11. Love’s mother, Jeffry, had called 911 and told a dispatcher her daughter had bipolar disorder and didn’t want to live.
“My daughter asked me to call the police so they can kill her,” Jeffry Love can be heard telling the dispatcher in a recording released by police.
When officers arrived at the family’s home on Ashbrook Drive, Mary Alice Love was outside on a rear patio and armed with two knives. Body-worn camera video released by police shows Love being shot after opening a rear sliding-glass door leading to where her mother and some officers had gathered.
Brigano has been on paid administrative leave since May. That’s been a source of contention for the Love family and their supporters, who, during multiple public protests, have demanded he be fired and charged.
The Lake County Major Crimes Task Force spent months investigating the shooting, which the coroner’s office had ruled a homicide because someone else caused Love’s death.
After reviewing the evidence, prosecutors didn’t feel they could prove officers committed any crimes that day, Rinehart said Thursday.
“This decision answers one narrow question: can the state prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt?” Rinehart said in the release. “It does not mean that things could not have been done differently, or that Mary Alice Love’s death was not preventable.”
Rinehart expressed condolences to the Love family and their friends.
“This case highlights a tragic intersection of mental health crises and law enforcement responses,” Rinehart said. “A family’s call for help should never end in the death of someone.”
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Chicago by Love’s father, Johnny. It alleges Brigano used excessive force and that the village failed to properly teach Brigano and other officers about proper methods of reasonable force, how to de-escalate encounters with mentally ill citizens and the use of deadly force.
“No badge places anyone above accountability, and the use of deadly force must always be subject to rigorous scrutiny,” the Rev. Tavis Grant, a family representative, said in a news release Thursday. “This family deserves justice, and we must use every lawful tool available to pursue that goal.”
Reached via email, Mundelein Village Administrator Eric Guenther said a lawsuit was expected. Officials hadn’t been served with a copy of the complaint as of Thursday afternoon.
rlissau@dailyherald.com