Buffalo Grove Officers Cleared Of Wrongdoing In 2021 Fatal Shooting

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — Two Buffalo Grove police officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing in a 2021 fatal shooting of an armed man In Mill Creek Park. According to a five-page June report from the Cook County State Attorney's Office, evidence is "insufficient to support criminal charges" against the officers.

Brian Christopher Howard, 25, was shot and killed by police during an early morning incident on Dec. 2, 2021, in the area of Radcliffe Road and Boxwood Lane, in a parking lot near a vacant church. The incident marked the first officer-involved shooting ever in Buffalo Grove, according to Police Chief Steven Casstevens.

In January 2022, the Buffalo Grove Police Department released a video of the incident. The video is overlaid with the 911 dispatch as well as police radio audio that transpired during this event. The footage contains graphic images and language, and some viewers may find it to be disturbing or offensive.

RELATED: Video Released In Fatal Buffalo Grove Police Shooting

"[In this case] the evidence shows that [the officers] each had a reasonable belief that Brian Howard put both officers in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death," the report from CCSAO reads.

The CCSAO said in reviewing the evidence, the officers "acted reasonably in self-defense after Howard failed to comply with numerous verbal commands to drop the weapons, discharged each of the weapons and continued to advance toward the officers with a gun in each hand."

Following the incident, police recovered the two loaded handguns — 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun — and shell casings from each weapon at the scene.

RELATED:

• Family Remembers Man Shot By Police; GoFundMe Raises $8K
• Police Fatally Shoot Armed Man In Buffalo Grove