Palatine police kill man who ran down officer; shooting linked to death investigation
A Palatine police officer at the scene of a reported murder early Sunday shot and killed a man who intentionally ran him and a civilian over with a car near the village's downtown, authorities said.
Officers later discovered a female relative of the driver dead in a nearby apartment building, police said.
The woman found dead in an apartment on the 300 block of North Brockway Street was identified early Monday as 74-year-old Polly A. Vaughan, officials from the Cook County Medical Examiners Office released. She is scheduled to be autopsied Monday afternoon.
The events unfolded just before 2 a.m., police said, when someone called 9-1-1 stating that a murder had occurred, authorities said.
When officers arrived and began speaking with a resident, a car in the parking lot was driven fast toward the officers, police said. The vehicle veered off the pavement and onto the grass, striking an officer and a civilian before hitting the apartment building on the 300 block of Brockway Street.
The officer, police said, managed to fire several shots into the car, hitting the driver multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The officer and resident were taken to a hospital for treatment.
A short time later, officers found a woman dead in one of the nearby apartments. She appears to be a relative of the man shot dead by police, authorities said.
Identities of the man and woman were not released Sunday.
Sarah Stitt, a resident of the apartment building, said she woke up just before 2 a.m. to hear people shouting.
"I almost called my dad. I'm in my thirties, but I was going to call my dad and (say), 'I'm OK in case you see it on the news,'" she said. "I did not get much sleep last night."
Yellow police tape cordoned off the crashed vehicle for much of the day Sunday. it was towed away from the scene shortly before 5 p.m.
Peter McCarten, another resident of the Brockway Street apartments, said he was asleep on a couch when he was awakened by gunfire.
"I woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning and (heard) bang, bang, bang. I was scared. I tried to pick up my phone but I couldn't. I was just too scared and didn't know what to do," he said.
Bobbie Sanborn, who lives in a house across the street, said that although she was shocked by the events, she still feels safe in the neighborhood.
"I can't take the view that, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to move out of the neighborhood,'" she said, adding that the apartment building fits into the "very quiet and low key" area.
The Cook County Major Case Assistance Team will investigate the shooting and help Palatine police with the investigation into the woman's death, police said.