Wrongful Death Suit Filed In Controversial Will Co. Police Shooting

From John Ferak’s article in the Joliet Patch

Two Will County Sheriff's deputies called to diffuse a domestic violence encounter involving a grandson threatening his elderly grandfather last November killed both men within 32 seconds of arriving at their Joliet Township home, according to a new wrongful death lawsuit against the Will County Sheriff's Office under Sheriff Mike Kelley.

"Plaintiff’s Decedent Eldred Wells Sr. had done nothing to cause the deputies to fire their weapons at him during this encounter," the lawsuit argues.

News of the wrongful death lawsuit filed at the Will County Courthouse was first reported by Chicago's CBS Channel 2 investigative reporter Dave Savini.

At no point during the past 11-and-a-half months has the Will County Sheriff's Office identified the deputies who shot and killed Jabbar Muhammad, 21, and his grandfather, age 70.

Joliet Patch has learned the Will County sheriff's deputies are Nick Binnendyk and Desmond Warren.

That Saturday afternoon, the deputies sped to the Wells home in the Sugar Creek-Preston Heights area outside city of Joliet limits, fatally shooting both the grandson and grandfather during the domestic disturbance.

The Will County Sheriff's Office put out a press release afterward indicating that sheriff's deputies killed Muhammed after he stabbed his grandfather in the neck. The wrongful death lawsuit states the actions of the sheriff's deputies took the life of Wells, who had no weapon in his possession when the Will County deputies killed him.

Eldred Wells Did Not Have Gun Or Knife

According to the wrongful death lawsuit, the following events resulted in the deaths of Muhammed and his grandfather on Nov. 6, 2021:

That Saturday, at 4:07 p.m., a Will County Sheriff's deputy arrived at the home of Wells and his grandson, yelling, “Sheriff’s Department."

Upon his entry, the deputy saw the 21-year-old Muhammad holding a knife in his right hand and identified Muhammad as the predominant aggressor.

Wells was standing a few feet away when the first deputy entered his house.

The 70-year-old homeowner did not have any gun or a knife in his possession, and Wells "was not acting in an aggressive manner.

"After making the initial observation, the deputy did not immediately separate the parties, Jabbar Muhammad and plaintiff’s decedent Eldred J. Wells Sr.

"In the next 30 seconds following their entry into the home, the deputies proceed to further agitate and yell at Jabbar Muhammad, as well as draw their service weapons. When the increasing yelling and agitation became too much, Jabbar Muhammad lunged at ... Eldred Wells Sr.

"The deputies then began discharging their service weapons at both Muhammad and ... Eldred Wells Sr. Plaintiff's decedent Eldred Wells Sr. had done nothing to cause the deputies to fire their weapons at him during this encounter."

Late last month, Will County Chief Deputy Sheriff Dan Jungles notified Joliet Patch that the unidentified sheriff's deputies have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with the deaths of Wells and Muhammad.

Jungles informed Patch that the Wells and Muhammad deadly shooting case was closed on July 21 when the Will County Sheriff's Office received information from the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force indicating the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow completed its review of the sheriff's deputies' shootings.

“The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office has reviewed the above-referenced case. Please be advised there will be no charges filed in this matter," Glasgow's staff informed Jungles.

Back in April, Joliet Patch published an article with the following headline:"Will County Fails To Disclose It Shot 70-Year-Old Man: FOIA Lawsuit."

The article reported how the Will County Sheriff's Office put out inaccurate information surrounding the Nov. 6 deaths of the 70-year-old grandfather and his 21-year-old grandson, failing to disclose that both men were shot by sheriff's deputies.

*****************

• The 21-year-old Muhammad was discharged from the Silver Oaks Behavioral Hospital in New Lenox to the home he shared with his grandfather, Wells, around 11:50 a.m.

• The hospital discharge happened roughly four hours before deputies Binnendyk and Warren learned from 911 emergency dispatchers that Muhammad was armed with a knife and threatening his grandfather at the home in Joliet Township.

• "After making the initial observation, the deputy did not immediately isolate Jabbar Muhammad to protect ... Wells Sr., the source of Jabbar's agitation, and provide the best opportunity to de-escalate the domestic dispute," the lawsuit notes.

• The 70-year-old Wells died from multiple gunshot wounds. The other people at his house with guns were the deputies, known to Joliet Patch as Binnendyk and Warren.

• Muhammad also died from his multiple gunshot wounds, Nov. 6, 2021.

• Following the two deaths, the Will/Grundy Major Crimes Task Force undertook an investigation of this police-involved shooting.

• "As a direct and proximate result of the death of plaintiff's decedent Eldred Wells Sr., his next-of-kin have and will continue to suffer great loss of a personal and pecuniary nature, and have been and will continue to be deprived of the society, companionship, friendship, comfort, guidance, love and affection ..."

• The lawsuit seeks monetary damages from the Will County Sheriff's Office in excess of $50,000.

Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley told Joliet Patch's editor on Monday that he supports the findings of the Major Crimes Task Force and the State's Attorney's Office that criminal charges were not warranted for his agency's deputies, Warren and Binnendyk, when asked about them.

Kelley said he did not want to directly respond to any of the allegations raised in the wrongful death lawsuit, on the recommendations from sheriff's office's legal counsel, which is the Will County State's Attorney's Office.

"We'll let the case run its course," Kelley told Patch. "We're finishing up the last pieces of the internal affairs investigation, which we don't start up until we get an answer from the State's Attorney's Office."

Kelley pointed out that his deputies are equipped with body worn cameras, and the entire incident involving the shooting of Wells and Mohammad was captured by the deputies' body cameras.

About six months ago, Kelley said, the sheriff's office conducted a private review of the body cameras of the shootings for the Wells family.

Patch asked Kelley if he was surprised by Friday's wrongful death lawsuit.

"I was not surprised at the lawsuit," Kelley said Monday. "I was surprised it took that long."

Click here to read the full article on the Joliet Patch website.

The family of Jabbar Muhammad is represented by Craig M. Sandberg from Sandberg Law Office, P.C.