BEACON TRANSCRIPT – A police officer from Park County was critically injured in a gunfight that took place on Saturday morning. The assailant, identified as Thurman Reynolds, opened fire on the police officers who arrived to investigate a break-in case. No one else was injured in the gunfight.

According to the police’s affidavits, on Saturday, at approximately 5:40 a.m., someone called the police department in order to voice his concerns about an individual trying to break into an empty house located at 300 Block Neola Street.

Officer Timothy Jones was on duty that day and was immediately dispatched to investigate the citizen’s claims. After the police arrived, the thief, which was later identified as being Thurman Reynolds, an ex-convict, began to behave erratically.

In an attempt to get rid of the officers, the suspect opened fire. According to Park County’s police department, the only one injured in the gunfight was junior officer Timothy Jones.

Reynolds’s first bullet wounded Jones right in the face, damaging his jaw. After the officer had been injured, the police squad from Park County formed a perimeter around the house in the hope of capturing the assailant.

After a brief gunfight, the mad gunman was killed. Reynolds was taken immediately to the Advocate Christ Medical Center in order to receive medical attention. Due to the severity of his condition, the 24-year-old police officer was airlifted to the hospital.

At the medical center, the doctors managed to repair the damage to his jaw and stabilized the patient. Vincent Lockett, an alderman, working at the Country Club Hills, said that he knows Jones very well and that his father, William Jones is the chief of Country Club Hill police department.

 The alderman said that Jones junior’s surgery went well and that the police officer is recuperating. Although the patient is still listed as being in critical condition, Lockett said that Jones is stable at the moment.

Thurman Reynolds, the assailant who shot Jones is a backslider, according to Park County police department. In 2014, the police issued a warrant in Reynolds’s name for misdemeanor battery.

According to the officers who remained at the scene of the gunfight after Reynolds was killed, the suspect had two guns in his possession. Presently, the police did not manage to determine why Reynolds tried to break into the vacant house or what pushed him to open fire on Jones and the others members of the force.

Moreover, after the gunfight ended, the force went from door to door to make sure that Reynolds’s misfires did not hit anyone else.

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