Video of fatal Lakemoor officer-involved shooting released

Following a Freedom of Information Act request by Lake and McHenry County Scanner, authorities have released dashcam and bodycam footage of a murder suspect pulling a gun on a Lakemoor police officer and attacking her in July.

Lakemoor Police Officer Brianna Tedesco was on routine patrol at around 5 a.m. on July 26, 2018, when she came across an occupied SUV on a narrow gravel road near Four Seasons Boulevard & Sullivan Lake Road.

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office said that the man inside the car, Kenneth E. Martell, 36, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, was wanted for murder after he tied, robbed, beat and stabbed to death 88-year-old Theodore Garver in his Beaver Township, Pennsylvania home three days prior.

Officer Tedesco found Martell lying down inside the vehicle. She asked him for identification and he gave her a fake name. Officer Tedesco then asked Martell for written identification and he pointed a handgun at her head.

“It became apparent that the tender of a piece of paper was designed to distract Officer Tedesco from what Martell was about to do,” Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim said. A struggle ensued and the two began fighting over the gun.

Lakemoor Police Officer Anthony Loiacono, who was the backup officer to Officer Tedesco, arrived at the scene. He fired one shot, which struck Martell in the head, after he saw the man was armed with a handgun in each of his hands, Nerheim said.

Martell was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. An autopsy showed that Martell had numerous traces of drugs in his system at the time of his death.

“Based upon the facts gathered in this investigation and a review of the applicable Illinois Statutes, Officer Loiacono acted reasonably and appropriately. Martell’s acts of deception and lies to Officer Tedesco were a prelude to an ambush,” Nerheim said in his released final report.

The graphic bodycam and dashcam video was released on Monday to Lake and McHenry County Scanner following a lengthy Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request battle involving the Village of Lakemoor and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.