WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim says he is closely monitoring the investigation into the shooting death by a Zion police officer of a northeastern Illinois teenager.
In a statement Friday, Nerheim said he has asked the FBI to monitor and review the investigation into 17-year-old Justus Howell’s death. He says the agency has agreed to do so.
Nerheim says the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force has been interviewing all witnesses and collecting all the relevant evidence related to Howell’s death.
Police have said Howell was involved in a scuffle while trying to steal a handgun during a street sale just before the officer shot him last Saturday. The coroner’s office says the Waukegan teen was shot twice in the back.
The Lake County NAACP has cited Zion authorities as saying they can’t yet say what led the officer to shoot Howell.
