Hundreds of people gathered outside Oak Park’s Village Hall Friday night in honor of police Detective Allan Reddins, who was shot and killed while responding to a call for service last week.
Reddins, 40 and a five-year veteran of the department, was the first Oak Park officer killed in the line of duty since 1938, authorities said. Jerell Thomas, of Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, has since been charged with his murder. Thomas, 37, has a history of being violent toward police officers, records show.
During the brief ceremony, a violinist played “Amazing Grace” as people lit candles. Oak Park police Chief Shatonya Johnson asked the department’s officers to join her at the podium for her short address.
“I want you all to see to recognize the men and women of your police department that get up every day to come in and serve and protect you all,” Johnson said. “We all are struggling together.”
She thanked the public for the “outpour” of support for the department and said her hope in the wake of Reddins’ death was that “we’re going to be stronger, we’re going to work harder, and we’re going to be safer than ever.”
Mayor Vicki Scaman offered her condolences to Reddins’ family and said his work with the department would “continue to inspire us all as we work together to build a safer, stronger Oak Park.”
Scaman also called on residents to do what they could to support their police department and said village leaders were “committed … to reduce gun violence so that all people feel safe in our community.”
Marisa Muñoz shook her head as the group took a moment of silence.
“We shouldn’t be here,” she muttered.
Muñoz, 43, said Reddins had helped her family when her father was ailing, as the officer who would sometimes respond to their 911 calls alongside paramedics. She remembered Reddins as a “gentle, kind man” and worried for his 19-year-old son, who survives him alongside Reddins’ mother and siblings.
“He should be at home with his family celebrating the holidays,” she said of Reddins. “When is this going to end? There were two kids shot in California earlier this week.”
Paul Greenwalt said he was out of patience with attitudes toward firearm regulations and blamed Reddins’ death in part on access to guns.
Greenwalt, 57, and his wife, Sonya Gilbert, said Reddins had been shot just four blocks from their home.
“If that can happen on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving when everyone’s out shopping, it’s pretty sobering,” said Gilbert, 62.
Reddins’ funeral services will take place next week, according to information on the village’s website.