Authorities say man pointed gun at himself before raising it toward officers outside Rockford casino

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The man who law enforcement officers shot Saturday outside the Rockford Casino had first raised a gun to his own head and then fired a shot in the air before pointing the gun at officers, authorities said Tuesday.

Those were a few of the preliminary results of an investigation being conducted by the Winnebago Boone County Integrity Task Force, a coalition of 15 law enforcement agencies from around the region responsible for investigating when police here use deadly force.

Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Chuck Davidson and Boone County Sheriff Dave Ernest held a news conference Tuesday to release preliminary details and lay out how the investigation will continue going forward.

“The media and community must understand that the information I’m going to give today is based upon a preliminary investigation, and our understanding of the facts can change as we gather additional evidence and analyze that evidence,” Hanley said.

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Hanley said the shooting unfolded after Rockford police received a 911 call about a man with a gun in the parking lot of the Rockford Casino. Officers confronted Bradley James Thompkins, 51, around 8:30 p.m. Saturday near the entrance to the casino. When he was confronted, he put a gun to his head, then he fired one shot in the air before lowering the weapon toward officers, Hanley said.

Two Rockford police officers — Dion Embrey and Jordan Black — and Winnebago County Sheriff’s Deputy Giorgi Arbisi fired at Thompkins, striking him in the midsection. Thompkins is still in the hospital in critical condition. Hanley said it was too early in the investigation to say whether the weapon Thompkins had was obtained legally, or to provide other details about his background.

“We know very little about Thompkins’ history,” Hanley said.

There is video evidence from police body-worn cameras and Hard Rock surveillance cameras, Hanley said, but that video will not be released at this time.

It’s difficult to predict how long the investigation may take, Davidson said. Much of the timeline depends on how long it takes to receive ballistics evidence back from the state crime lab.

“There’s quite a bit from this situation, so it will probably take some time,” Davidson said. “We hope to have it wrapped up within 30 days, but there’s no guarantees.”

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By law, police officers may use deadly force when they “reasonably believe” it was necessary to protect against the threat of death or serious injury. Hanley’s office will be responsible for making that determination after reviewing the evidence. His investigation does not look into whether proper police procedures were followed.

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Hanley said his office has a goal of releasing his decision on whether to issue criminal charges within 30 days of the task force turning over its evidence.

The local task force was created in June 2010 to investigate instances of deadly force or serious bodily harm by police officers. This is the first time its been called to investigate a shooting that involved both sheriff’s deputies and city police at the same time, Davidson said.

Because of that, the investigation will be conducted by detectives with the Illinois State Police, Boone County Sheriff’s Department, Loves Park, Rockton, Belvidere and South Beloit police departments. About a dozen detectives and three state police crime scene investigators were at the scene Saturday, Davidson said.

A little over a year ago, a co-responder program was created that pairs police with mental health professionals during certain calls involving a mental health crisis. Despite Thompkins reportedly raising a gun to his own head, investigators don’t yet know if he was suffering from any mental illness or if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Davidson said the events unfolded too quickly for the co-responder team to be activated.

“There wasn’t enough time,” Davidson said. “It was a pretty short duration.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.