May 21, 2024
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Police shooting of Romeoville bank hostage taker remains under review

By Felix Sarver

Officers at the scene of a hostage situation on May 10, 2022 at Fifth Third Bank in Romeoville. (Gary E Duncan Sr)

A Will County sheriff’s lieutenant’s fatal shooting of a man who took hostages at a Romeoville bank still is under review by prosecutors 17 months after the incident occurred.

As of Thursday, no charging decisions had been made in the case of Will County Sheriff’s Lt. John Allen’s fatal shooting of Gregory Walker, 65, of Crest Hill, who was armed with a gun and took hostages at Fifth Third Bank on May 10, 2022, in Romeoville.

Will County State’s Attorney Carole Cheney said the “matter remains under investigation and review.”

“Given this, no further information can be provided at the present time,” Cheney said Thursday.

Walker’s surviving sister, Brenda Nash-Milton, has a pending federal lawsuit against Allen, Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley and the Will County Sheriff’s Office over the incident.

The lawsuit alleged that Walker allowed everyone inside the bank to leave after speaking to a crisis negotiator. The lawsuit further alleged that Walker was unarmed and had his hands raised in the air before he was shot by Allen.

Nash-Milton’s lawsuit case was put on hold because of the ongoing Illinois State Police investigation.

Nevertheless, Nash-Milton’s attorney, Ian Barney, pushed for the state police to respond to his subpoena for its records of the investigation.

U.S. Judge Sarah Ellis gave state police until Oct. 20 to produce the records that Barney is seeking.

Romeoville Bank Robbery. May 10.

Officers at the scene of a hostage situation on May 10, 2022 at Fifth Third Bank in Romeoville. (Gary Duncan)

However, Illinois State Police have asked Ellis to give them until Nov. 3 to complete their review of the investigatory file and respond to Barney’s subpoena, according to an Oct. 20 court filing from attorneys with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s Office.

Raoul’s office serves as the attorneys for state police.

In the same court filing, Raoul’s attorneys said they expect to provide “413 pages of reports and 17 video files by the end of the day on [Oct. 20].”

“However, this does not comprise of the entire investigatory file,” Raoul’s attorneys said.

Ellis is scheduled to consider whether to give Illinois State Police more time to respond to Barney’s subpoena on Oct. 31.