Prison for man involved in Antioch Township standoff, shooting in Gurnee
A man who authorities say was at the center of a police standoff in Antioch Township and later a fatal police-involved shooting in Gurnee was sentenced to nearly six years in prison, authorities said.
Jordan J. Huff, 38, pleaded guilty to felony charges of criminal damage to state-supported property and aggravated fleeing and eluding police and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison by Judge James Booras on Oct. 17, Assistant Lake County State's Attorney Dan Kleinhubert said Friday. Kleinhubert said charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon were dropped in exchange for the plea deal. Huff was given credit for 147 days he served in Lake County jail.
Kleinhubert said Huff could have been sentenced up to seven years in prison if found guilty at trial. The prison sentence negotiated in the plea deal was for nearly six years because Huff had prior convictions for criminal damage to property.
Huff was charged May 25 after a confrontation with Antioch police at 6:30 a.m. that ended with a woman being shot and killed by police in Gurnee hours later.
The chain of events started when Antioch police received complaints from residents on the 400 block of Donin Drive that a man and woman were knocking on doors asking for money.
Huff was driving a white Volkswagen convertible that rammed a squad car to escape police who arrived on scene. Witnesses also reported hearing a gunshot from the car, and a long-barreled rifle was spotted before it sped off, authorities said.
That car was spotted a short time later outside a house on the 40500 block of Route 83 in Antioch Township. Police surrounded the house in an hourslong standoff that ended when two people inside surrendered about 1 p.m.
However, Huff and Makell Meyerin, 31, were not in the house during the standoff, authorities said. They left before police arrived, then obtained a Prius from a nearby house to get away, authorities said.
Just as the Antioch standoff ended, Gurnee police found Meyerin and Huff asleep in the Prius at a stop sign at Harper and Gould streets. Huff displayed overdose symptoms in the passenger's seat, but Meyerin woke up, refused to let anyone near the vehicle, then hit a Gurnee Fire Department vehicle while trying to get away, authorities said.
Officers followed the Prius to a nearby park, where it crashed. Meyerin jumped out with a Beretta Cx4 Storm tactical carbine rifle and ran onto southbound Route 41, authorities said. Officers tried to negotiate before shooting her when she pointed the gun at them, authorities said.
Meyerin was pronounced dead at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville at 2:49 p.m. Huff was treated at a hospital, then released into police custody.
The Lake County state's attorney's office determined after a monthslong investigation that officers acted appropriately.