BUREAU COUNTY, Ill. – Court documents reveal new details about a domestic incident near DePue, Illinois resulting in a fatal shooting involving law enforcement.
Anthony D. Rodriguez, 42, of Princeton, is charged with three counts of Aggravated Unlawful Restraint, a Class 3 Felony, as well as one count of Aggravated Assault with Deadly Weapon, and two counts of Domestic Battery, both Class A Misdemeanors.
Rodriguez is accused of holding a knife and threatening to kill people while locked inside a bedroom with a baby, child and their mother, court documents show.
The child was killed amid gunfire when officers engaged with Rodriguez, court documents show. On Wednesday, Bureau County Coroner Kurt Workman identified the child as Damian Camacho, 3, of DePue.
Workman said preliminary autopsy results show the child died from a gunshot wound. Dispatch audio recordings from around the time of the incident indicate the child was struck in the head area.
Held hostage.
On May 10, at around 2:40 a.m., officers from multiple agencies responded to a domestic disturbance in the 2700 block of East Street near DePue.
Upon arrival on scene, officers could hear screaming from outside the mobile home before making entry and hearing screams coming from a bedroom.
Officers then saw a woman, later identified as Rodriguez’s sister JA, lodged between a door being closed on her and the door frame, court documents show.
JA informed the officers Rodriguez had a knife and was, ‘going to harm the occupants of the room,’ court documents show.
Prosecutors say officers tried to establish communication with Rodriguez to get him to release the occupants of the room, but he refused, court documents show.
Officers then tried to force their way into the room but Rodriguez was barricading the door with his body. The door hinge eventually broke and officers deployed a Taser on Rodriguez, court documents show.
Shortly after deploying a Taser, officers were able to make entry into the bedroom as Rodriguez ran from the door and jumped onto a bed where the baby and child were located, court documents show.
An officer fired one ‘non-lethal round’ at Rodriguez before firing two rounds with his service weapon, striking and wounding him. One round also struck and killed the child, court documents show.
The child was taken to the hospital in Princeton where he was later pronounced dead.
Rodriguez was also taken to the hospital for treatment before being released and subsequently booked into the Bureau County Jail on May 11.
More details.
Witnesses from inside the home told police that Rodriguez, armed with a kitchen knife, threatened to kill the baby and child, along with their mother, if anyone entered the room, court documents show.
One of the witnesses told police Rodriguez was holding the knife while trying to force the door shut, after spraying and pouring a ‘bleach cleaning solution’ around the room and at the mother and her children.
The mother told police she has been in an ‘on and off’ dating relationship with Rodriguez for about five years, court documents show.
Prosecutors say Illinois State Police investigators found a Cuisinart knife on the ground behind the headboard of the bed, court documents show.
What’s next?
An Illinois State Police investigation into the officer’s use of deadly force remains ongoing.
The Bureau County Sheriff’s Office and Princeton Police Department responded to the incident. However, as of Wednesday, authorities have not released the identity of the officer(s) involved in the shooting.
Rodriguez appeared in court Wednesday where a judge denied him pretrial release, according to Bureau County Circuit Clerk Dawn Reglin. He will remain in custody at the Bureau County Jail.
In 2013, court records show Rodriguez was charged in a felony drug case in Kane County, but later agreed to plead Guilty to a lesser charge for paraphernalia. He has no prior criminal history in Bureau County.
EDIT: In 2019, Rodriguez was convicted of Driving on Revoked License in Bureau County, a Class A Misdemeanor. He also pled Guilty to a similar charge, upgraded to a Class 4 Felony, in LaSalle County.
At the time of writing this article, the next court date for Rodriguez is not listed.
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