A jury ruled that a woman fatally shot by police while armed with knives in Mundelein was a homicide, as the family’s attorney calls it “an important first step” while demanding charges and saying they have met with the state’s attorney.
Attorney Kevin O’Connor and the family of 37-year-old Mary Alice Love held a press conference outside the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan on Wednesday afternoon.
O’Connor said a coroner’s inquest was held on Wednesday morning and the jury ruled Love’s death was a homicide.
An inquest is a legal public hearing into the manner of death in which the coroner and six jurors sit and evidence is presented to determine the manner and circumstances surrounding a death.
Inquests assist in detecting foul play or hazardous conditions, according to the coroner’s office. Family members can attend and learn the facts surrounding the death of a loved one.
“Today was a significant victory for the Love family,” he said.
“There was a Coroner’s Inquest that involved an independent jury who had to rule whether or not Mary Alice Love’s death was undetermined, accidental, suicide, or homicide. The Village of Mundelein and its police department had put out a narrative that Mary Alice Love was trying to commit suicide which is why this encounter happened,” O’Connor said.
“A jury has now concluded that this was not suicide, it was a homicide by Sergeant Christopher Brigano,” O’Connor said.
The entire family met with Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart and his team after the inquest to discuss the criminal aspect of the case.
“The family is very pleased with the outcome of that meeting. Mr. Rinehart indicated that the last piece of evidence that the underlying investigating team was waiting for was the jury’s decision from the Coroner’s Inquest,” O’Connor said.
The attorney and the family have repeatedly called for criminal charges against Brigano.
Love was shot multiple times and killed by Brigano while police were responding to a report that Love was suicidal at her home in the 1100 block of Ashbrook Drive in Mundelein on May 11.
Love’s mother, Jeffry, called 911 and told dispatchers that her daughter had asked her to call the police so they could kill her, according to video and audio released by the Mundelein Police Department on Monday.
The dispatcher assured the woman that help was on the way as she told him she was worried that officers would kill her granddaughter.
Love’s sister, who was not at the scene, also called 911 and told dispatchers she was concerned that Love was home alone with her sister and that the Lake County Crisis Center had been contacted by the family.
Officers arrived and encountered Love’s mother, Jeffry, at the front door.
Officers were seen attempting to get her to exit away from the home for her safety, but she refused and asked the officers to come inside, the video showed. Love was sitting on the back patio of the house at that time.
Officers walked through the house with Jeffry towards the back patio door, and officers reported Love was armed on the patio with a knife.
Officers tried to get Jeffry, who was standing at the back door next to the officers, away from the door to safety, the video showed.
Two officers attempted to physically guide the mother away from the door, and she appeared to fall over.
Love got up from a chair on the patio and walked toward the rear sliding glass door while holding the knives.
Love began yelling at the officers and opened the door before Brigano fired four times at her, causing her to fall and drop the knives on the back patio.
Officers immediately summoned firefighter/paramedics, who were already staging nearby until the scene was deemed safe.
Love was rushed to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where she was pronounced dead.
An independent investigation is being conducted by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Around 80-100 people, including family members and relatives of Love, carried out a protest in front of the Mundelein Village Hall last month.
Several speakers spent around an hour addressing the crowd, calling for transparency and accountability.
A significant portion of the protesters made signs like “Help before harm,” “Her life mattered,” “Mental healthcare not bullets,” “Justice 4 Mary Alice,” and “Crisis does not equal threat.”
The family and members of the community have also spoken out at Mundelein Village Board meetings.
A woman whose mother was friends with Love emotionally spoke during a board meeting last month and said that she is disappointed by the “lack of concern” shown by local officials.
“When a family is grieving the loss of a loved one, they should not have to fight for information. They should not have to fight for transparency, and they should not have to fight to protect the dignity and the memory of a loved one,” she said.
Christoper “Brotha” Blanks, the founder of the Black Abolition Movement for the Mind, asked the village board to create a civilian office of police accountability for the village.
Blanks expressed skepticism of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force’s investigation, saying that it is not truly “independent” due to possible conflicts of interest among the investigators.
The family of Love previously released nine demands, including the termination of Brigano, suspension of two other officers, the release of all body-worn camera footage and dispatch recordings, having the Illinois State Police and U.S. Department of Justice conduct an independent investigation, retracting and correcting alleged false statements, publicly apologizing to Love’s family, identifying all officers involved and holding a community accountability meeting.
O’Connor previously said that Brigano, an 18-year veteran of the Mundelein Police Department, “failed on pretty much every level” despite being trained in crisis intervention training (CIT).
“It was a series of tactical errors from the start,” O’Connor said, adding that police improperly addressed the situation and instead escalated it.
O’Connor said Love got up from the chair and was asking the police what they were doing to her mother when she was shot.
O’Connor added that officers failed to establish verbal communication with Love and did give her an opportunity to comply.
“And what could they have done? Back up. Back up and wait for the crisis intervention people to come,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor also said that police tried to blame Jeffry for the incident “to throw salt on the wound.”
“This man [Brigano] should be fired, there is no question. He should be fired.”
“If this is your leader, if this is your sergeant training these other officers, get that poison out of that department. He’s only going to teach them bad things.”