A weekend incident in Sangamon County is resulting in increased security measures in Morgan County.
One Springfield teenager is dead after an officer-involved shooting at the Sangamon County Juvenile Detention Facility in Springfield on Saturday night.
According to Springfield Police, officers responded to a call about 7:45 p.m., that a person had possibly shot an individual and was holding another hostage at the Sangamon County Juvenile Detention Facility located on South Dirksen Parkway. The State Journal Register reports that Springfield Police officers shot the armed suspect after encountering him at the entrance to the facility.
The suspect, later identified by Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon as a 17-year old male subject of Springfield, was taken by ambulance to HSHS St. John’s Hospital where he was pronounced deceased after 9:30PM.
Allmon did not release the identity of the deceased suspect, but told the SJ-R that his family has been notified. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
A second person suffered a gunshot wound and was treated and released, according to Springfield Police.
The facility remained on lock down through Sunday. Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell told the SJ-R that 9 juveniles were detained at the facility at the time of the incident. The Illinois State Police are handling the investigation into the incident. No further information has been released at this time.
In response to the incident, security has been tightened at the Morgan County Courthouse with anyone entering being checked and required to pass through a metal detector.
A request for comment from Morgan County officials on the heightened security measures has not been returned.
Newschannel 20 reports that all of the detainees at the facility were being moved to other facilities across the state. Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell told WICS that ISP needs the building to be empty while they conduct their investigation.
The State Police say that once their investigation into the use of force during the incident is complete, they will turn over their findings to the Sangamon County State’s Attorney for an independent review.