Illinois man to appear in court on charges related to accidental shooting death of CPD officer

CHICAGO (WGN) — A Northwestern Illinois man is set to appear in court on charges related to the accidental shooting death of Chicago police officer Krystal Rivera by a fellow cop.

25-year-old Adrian Rucker of Freeport—a town west of Rockford—is scheduled to appear in court Sunday afternoon on several felonies. Charges against Rucker include armed violence, illegal gun possession and illegal drug possession.

Charges Rucker Faces

• One felony count – Armed Violence / Category 1
• One felony count – Firearm/FOID Invalid/ Not Elig
• One felony count – ID Card – Possess Fraudulent ID Card
• One felony count – PCS – Possession – Poss Amt Con Sub Except (A)(D)
• Six counts – Issuances of Warrant

Prosecutors do not accuse him of firing any shots during the confrontation with police, which ended with the death of Rivera.

Late Thursday night, Sixth District officers with the Chicago Police Department tried to stop a man suspected of having a gun near East 82nd Street and South Drexel Avenue.

Police said the man ran. Rivera and other officers chased him into an apartment where a second man, who police identified as Rucker, confronted them with a rifle.

One officer fired a shot, which hit Rivera. According to the Cook County Medical Examiner, she was shot in the back.

Colleagues then brought her to a local hospital in a squad car that crashed and caught on fire due to a malfunction, according to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling. She was then transported in another squad car.

Rivera later died at the hospital, less than an hour after being shot.

Police arrested Rucker near East 82nd Street and South Maryland Avenue shortly thereafter, about two blocks from where the original confrontation took place.

Before that encounter in Chatham, police said there were already six warrants out for Rucker’s arrest from multiple counties, including Cook.

During an unrelated event Saturday, Snelling said the officer who fired the shot that killed Rivera is in a tough place. Rivera was 36 years old and leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter.