A federal trial began Monday for a man charged with shooting and killing McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Keltner during a warrant execution in 2019.
Keltner, 35, was working as a Special Deputy for the U.S. Marshal Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force on March 7, 2019.
The task force was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Floyd E. Brown, 42, of Springfield, who was staying at the Extended Stay America Hotel in Rockford.
When police knocked on the hotel room door where Brown was staying, he opened fire on the officers with a high-powered rifle.
Brown’s girlfriend, who was in the hotel room with him, was shot when Brown opened fire.
Brown jumped out of his hotel room window and then opened fire again on officers, striking Keltner.
Keltner was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Brown fled the scene in a vehicle and led Illinois State Police and other agencies on a 150-mile pursuit.
Pursuit speed reached over 100 mph until Brown’s vehicle came to a stop on Interstate 55 near Lincoln, Illinois when he ran over spike strips.
Brown was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder of a government officer, two counts of assaulting or impeding a federal officer, unlawful transport of firearms, possession of defaced firearms, firearm possession in furtherance of violent crime where death occurs and firearm possession in furtherance of violent crime.
A grand jury indictment alleged that Brown used a Romarm WASR-10 rifle to shoot and kill Keltner.
Police also recovered two 9mm pistols and a .223 caliber rifle in Brown’s possession.
All four guns had their serial numbers removed, the indictment said. Police seized over 1,000 rounds of ammunition from Brown at the time of his arrest.
Keltner, who had almost 13 years of service with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, left behind his wife and two young children.
Brown’s jury trial began Monday morning in the Illinois Northern District Court Rockford Courthouse.