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Will County sheriff’s deputies awarded for saving pregnant woman’s life

Deputies responded to shooting that wounded woman

December 15, 2025 at 10:00 am CST

Collyn McIlvain (left), vice president of Will County Sheriff’s Office Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #94, stands with Will County sheriff's deputies Kennedy Collins (second from left), Nicholas Kovar, Elijah Lujano, Harley Kessler, and Erin Vascik, the latter of whom is a secretary for the sheriff's FOP lodge. — Collyn McIlvain (left), vice president of Will County Sheriff’s Office Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 94, stands with Will County sheriff's deputies Kennedy Collins (second from left), Nicholas Kovar, Elijah Lujano, Harley Kessler, and Erin Vascik, the latter of whom is a secretary for the sheriff's FOP lodge. (Photo provided by courtesy of the Will County Sheriff’s Office Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #94.)

Four Will County sheriff’s deputies have been awarded for saving the life of a pregnant woman who was wounded in a shooting in Crete Township.

On Dec. 6, Deputies Harley Kessler, Nicholas Kovar, Kennedy Collins and Elijah Lujano were presented with the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge Life-Saving Award.

Those deputies were dispatched Sept. 2 to a report of a shooting and found two people with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle, according to a statement from Will County Sheriff Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 94.

The deputies “immediately began to administer first aid to the victims,” according to the FOP. Paramedics from Crete Fire Department arrived at the scene and took both victims to the hospital.

“The male victim died from his injuries, but the pregnant female victim and her unborn child survived,” according to the FOP. “The deputies’ quick actions arriving at the scene are credited with saving the woman’s life.”