Trial begins for woman charged in murder of Bradley, Illinois police officer in 2021

Jurors heard opening statements on Friday in the murder trial of a woman accused of helping kill a police sergeant in Bradley, Illinois, in 2021.

Xandria Harris is charged in the murder of Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and the shooting of Rittmanic's partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, in December 2021.

The officers were confronting Harris and her then boyfriend, Darius Sullivan, about barking dogs at a hotel room in Kankakee County.

Prosecutors have said Rittmanic and Bailey were confronting Sullivan and Harris about a call of barking dogs in a parked car outside a hotel in Kankakee County.

While the officers were talking to Harris at the hotel room door, Sullivan came from around the room and shot Bailey in the head, prosecutors said.

Sullivan then chased Rittmanic down the hallway and disarmed her to get a hold of her gun when his gun jammed, prosecutors said. He then shot and killed her as she lay on the floor, prosecutors said.

Bailey was left critically wounded by the shooting, and spent nearly a year in a rehab hospital.

Sullivan also was charged with murder and other felonies in the shooting. He was convicted of all counts in September 2024 and later sentenced to life in prison.