Settlement reached in federal case over Will County cop’s fatal shooting

A settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit case against a Will County SWAT sniper who fatally shot a kidnapper after he surrendered to the police in 2022.

On Wednesday, the parties in the case against Will County Sheriff’s Lt. John Allen accepted a settlement recommendation from U.S. District Court Judge Heather McShain, federal court records show.

Details of the settlement were not immediately available on Thursday. The parties in the case are finalizing a settlement release.

Another court hearing has been set for March 12.

The lawsuit against Allen was filed in 2023 by the sister of Gregory Walker, 65, of Crest Hill, who took hostages while armed with a revolver in 2022 at Fifth-Third Bank in Romeoville.

Walker released the hostages unarmed, disarmed himself and surrendered to police, according to video released by Illinois State Police.

As Walker exited the bank, he was shot and killed by Allen, who was a sniper with the sheriff’s office SWAT team.

The investigation of Allen’s shooting had been pending for years. It wasn’t until last January that a special grand jury in Will County found no probable cause that Allen committed a criminal offense.

Prosecutors provided the grand jury a legal memorandum regarding the definitions of recklessness, negligence, intentional act, as well as jury instructions for the offense of involuntary manslaughter.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Office has not released the memorandum to the public because “any matters occurring before the grand jury are strictly confidential and cannot be disclosed.”

Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Dan Jungles said the president of the union representing Allen had claimed the shooting occurred as a result of a rifle malfunction.

However, testing done by the FBI a few weeks after the shooting found the Accuracy International rifle functioned normally.

In 2023, Glasgow’s office solicited a Kentucky company called Nth-Level to to determine whether the rifle was capable of firing without a direct trigger pull, according to Illinois State Police records.

Nth-Level determined the rifle fired because the trigger was pulled. But the company also suggested Allen may have pulled the trigger involuntarily.

Ian Barney, attorney for the family of Walker, said the “separate and independent examinations” of the rifle “support the position” that Walker’s death was caused by Allen pulling the trigger on his rifle and not “by some unexplained discharge of the firearm.”

Records released by the sheriff’s office show Allen received extensive training in firearms and use of force.

In 2011, Allen completed a police firearms instructor course offered by the Police Training Institute in Champaign. In 2013, Allen completed coursework in police urban rifle and carbine tactical shooting skills.

In 2014, Allen received certificates of training from Snipercraft for completing courses called advanced sniper skills and basic police sniper.

The basic police sniper course covers ballistics, marksmanship, use of force and other topics, according to Snipercraft’s website.

In 2017, Allen received another certificate of training from Snipercraft for his participation in a 2017 event called SniperWeek. Snipercraft touted SniperWeek as the “largest and longest running police sniper training event of its kind in the world.”

In 2018, Allen completed a master instructor course regarding use of force.