Driver dies in Oak Park police shooting after traffic stop, struggle for gun, officials say
Police shot and killed a man they say struggled with officers for a gun this past weekend in the west Chicago suburb of Oak Park.
At 9:10 p.m. Sunday, an Oak Park police officer pulled over a black SUV near Harrison Street and Austin Boulevard, along the border with Chicago's South Austin neighborhood. The driver was alone in the vehicle, police said.
During the stop, the officer told the driver to get out of the car, and performed a pat-down. During the pat-down, police said the officer found a gun hidden on the driver's body.
"Arguably, traffic tops are probably one of the most dangerous things that police officers do," said retired CPD first deputy superintendent Anthony Riccio. "And it escalates into something that ultimately could have cost the officer his life and, in this case, cost the driver his life."
Police said once the officer found the gun, a long physical struggle over control of the weapon began. The driver ended up wrestling the gun back from the officer, police said, at which point the officer shot the driver.
The driver was taken to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood where he died of his injuries less than an hour later. The officer was also taken to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood to be treated for injuries and was released early Monday morning.
Police said they recovered a gun with a defaced serial number after the incident.
"That's really a huge red flag," Riccio said. "That indicates that this gun was probably used in a previous criminal incident."
Police identified the man killed as 38-year-old Christian Wallace. Oak Park police have not released the name of the officer who shot him, or any information about his time on the force and why he pulled the Wallace over in the first place.
Riccio said the moment there was a struggle and the officer saw a gun, he had a split second to react.
"Some encounters just escalate that quickly to deadly force, and this was one of them," Riccio said.
In Nov. 2024, an Oak Park detective encountered a man with a gun near the library. Within seconds, the officer had pulled his weapon and then there was an exchange of gunfire. Det. Allan Redins was killed, while the suspect survived. Body cam video showed the entire encounter.
Riccio also said body cam video will be key in this case.
"Thank God the officer went home after this incident, but I can assure you that there's a lot of baggage, there's a lot of emotional baggage that he's carrying around," he said.
An investigation into the shooting is being led by Illinois State Police.
