By M.K. Guetersloh, The Pontiac Pantagraph Online (Pontiac, Ill.)
Pontiac, Ill. -- The shooting of a Chatsworth man in January was justifiable, Livingston County State’s Attorney Tom Brown said Friday.
Kevin McCure, 31, was shot in the leg or foot Jan. 25 by a police officer during a search of a Chatsworth home where he was hiding, police said. McCure was holding what appeared to be a gun when he was shot, police said.
“I have concluded that use of potentially deadly force is justified in this case,” Brown said after reviewing state police reports.
Brown said he is not releasing the name of the officer or the police agency where that officer is employed because he will not file any charges against the officer.
State police investigators based in Peoria investigated the shooting.
The shooting came about 1 1/2 years after a police officer fatally shot McCure’s wife, Cindy. That shooting also was found to be justified.
Livingston County sheriff’s deputies attempted to arrest Kevin McCure on outstanding warrants from Livingston, Kankakee and Champaign counties after learning he was staying at a home in Chatsworth. The owner of the home refused to let the deputies enter to make the arrest.
Deputies then obtained a search warrant for the home, and special tactical teams from the sheriff’s department and Pontiac Police Department searched the house, Brown said.
A member of one of the tactical police teams opened a closet door and found Kevin McCure inside with a replica gun.
“The officer essentially was looking down the barrel of what he thought was a real gun,” Brown said.
Kevin McCure is facing misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and battery to a police officer stemming from the Jan. 25 incident. He is scheduled to go on trial in April.
Livingston County Sheriff Robert McCarty said he was pleased by the ruling. “We believed that at the time of the shooting it was justified,” he said.
McCarty and Pontiac Police Chief Don Schlosser both declined to comment on the identity of the police officer who shot Kevin McCure. “It doesn’t appear that the state’s attorney deems it appropriate to identify the officer,” McCarty said.
Neither would say if the officer was a sheriff’s deputy or a Pontiac police officer.
The officer has been returned to regular duty, McCarty said.
Kevin McCure remains in custody at the Livingston County jail in lieu of posting $24,500 for the charges from Jan. 25 and the warrants. Those warrant charges range from failure to report to jail while on work release to felony obstruction of justice.
A special prosecutor ruled the June 6, 2002, shooting death of McCure’s wife, Cindy McCure, 40, of Chatsworth was justified. A sheriff’s deputy shot Cindy McCure after responding to a domestic disturbance call at the McCure home.
The couple was arguing because Kevin McCure believed his wife was too intoxicated to drive and he refused to give her the keys to her car, according to reports. Cindy McCure was holding a small-caliber pistol when she was shot.
The deputy involved in that shooting also has not been identified.