NOKOMIS, Ill. (WAND)- State appellate prosecutors chose not file charges against a Nokomis Police officer in the June 2018 shooting death of an armed man, according to documents obtained through an open records request.
The officer, identified as Jacob Morgan, had been dispatched to a home in the 200 block of Frederick Street in Nokomis on reports of a disturbance June 15, 2018. When he arrived, he made contact with David Hicks. During an exchange there, Hicks told the officer he would have to shoot him or he would shoot the officer, according to the officer’s record of events.
Hicks left the home, walking in such a way the officer could not see his right hand and, at one point, telling the officer “It’s pointed right at you.” When they reached Sherman Street, the officer said he pleaded with Hicks to drop his gun and Hicks charged at him with his hand on his gun, according to reports.
“Having been told he has a gun, seeing a gun in his grasp, his statements to me about wanting me to shoot him or he would shoot me, constantly blading away from me, disobeying my commands to show me his hands, I feared for my life and the safety of others in the vicinity …,” Morgan wrote in his report.
The officer fired three shots, hitting Hicks in his upper torso, according to the report.
Coffeen Police Chief Rachel Sneddon, who also works as a paramedic, reported arriving at the scene. Sneddon reported first responders performed CPR on Hicks for 27 minutes, administered one shock through an AED and administered two rounds of epinephrine.
In a letter dated October 11, 2018, special prosecutor Matt Goetten wrote to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney that “no criminal charges are warranted in this matter.”
Some records of the case are available in the PDF on this page.
