Fired Will County Sheriff's Sniper Who Killed Man, Costing Taxpayers Millions, Regains His Old Job

JOLIET, IL — Johnathan Allen, the former Will County Sheriff's lieutenant and sniper who was fired by the administration of Sheriff Mike Kelley one year ago, will be coming back to the sheriff's facility on Laraway Road now that a federal arbitration ruling went in his favor.

"There is not a scintilla of evidence the grievant falsified or was in any way dishonest during the more than four years since the tragic events of May 10, 2022, and the employer was wise to refrain from bringing such a charge in this case. But for one incident involving a car accident, the grievant has enjoyed an exemplary and discipline free career with numerous commendations ... The grievance is sustained. The grievant, Johnathan Allen, shall be immediately reinstated to his
position as a Lieutenant with the Will County Sheriff’s Office with full back pay, including interest and lost overtime, payment for lost benefits, contributions to his retirement plans, and expungement of this matter from his official personnel file consistent with all public records law
in the State of Illinois," the federal arbitrator wrote.

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Joliet Patch has obtained a copy of the entire 33-page after consistently covering the plight of Allen. In May 2022, 65-year-old Gregory Walker of Crest Hill was surrendering peacefully at the Fifth Third Bank in Romeoville after having a mental health crisis inside the bank. When he tried to surrender, he was fatally shot by mistake by Lt. Allen, the Will County Sheriff's sniper, who was on the perimeter of the property.

"It is disconcerting to the arbitrator that at no time during the investigation was the grievant ever directed to demonstrate his handling of the sniper rifle on the day of the incident," page 25 reads. "He did so at the arbitration hearing. This is important for two reasons. It affords the finder of fact the opportunity to not just hear a verbal description of events, but to simultaneously observe the re-creation of the movements by the grievant to verify his verbal description of his actions.

"No disparity between grievant’s description and his physical actions were made apparent to the arbitrator when Lt. Allen demonstrated and described his handling of the rifle at hearing."

Allen's actions cost Will County taxpayers $2.75 million in an out-of-court federal lawsuit settlement with plaintiff's attorney Ian Barney. Last July, the sheriff's officefired him following an extensive internal affairs investigation handled by outside personnel.

"This case has its origin in the tragic events which took place on May 10, 2022," the 33-page ruling begins. "On that date the grievant, Johnathan Allen, was the Team Leader of the Employer’s Sniper/SWAT team. A call came in that assistance was required at the Fifth Third Bank located at 275 Weber Road, Romeoville, Illinois due to a man inside the bank with a weapon holding hostages. The SWAT team reported to the bank location, and the grievant and his partner, Officer DiSalvo, took up a position from which he could observe the bank entrance and deploy his sniper rifle if necessary. After negotiations with the hostage team, the suspect Gregory Walker appeared to have placed his weapon down and entered the bank’s vestibule in the process of surrendering to the police on the scene.

"As Walker was in the vestibule, the grievant observed the suspect through his sniper’s scope, and believed that Walker was not in the process of surrendering in the fashion normally
ordered by SWAT. Out of concern for the safety of other officers, and in order to be prepared for what might occur next, the grievant moved the bolt forward into a 'bolt up' position on his Accuracy International AX .308 sniper rifle. The grievant, who is left-handed and was using a right-handed rifle, then moved the rifle’s bolt into the fire position with his right hand when the rifle suddenly discharged. The bullet passed through the glass door of the bank striking Mr. Walker in the chest resulting in a single, fatal round."

In the aftermath of the deadly bank shooting on Weber Road, the arbitrator's ruling explained, Lt. Allen was immediately taken to a local hospital for evaluation. He was then placed on paid administrative leave and eventually assigned as a lieutenant to desk duty on the midnight shift. He was prohibited from performing active patrol duties while various investigations into the tragic events of May 10, 2022, were conducted.

"He testified before a Will County grand jury for up to 9 hours; he answered questions posed to him during the Employer’s own internal investigation; and finally, he testified on direct and cross-examination before the arbitrator. The Special Grand Jury heard testimony from numerous witnesses, including the grievant, between October 31, 2024, and January 24, 2025. It unanimously determined that no probable cause existed to charge the grievant with a criminal offense. On January 27, 2025, the State’s Attorney for Will County issued a No Bill of Indictment. While that court filing terminated the pursuit of criminal charges against Lt. Allen, the Employer proceeded to open an internal investigation into the grievant’s conduct on May 10, 2025."

According to the arbitration's ruling, the Will County Sheriff's hired an outside investigator, Jeffrey Padilla of American Strategic Consulting, PLLC, to handle the internal investigation. Padilla previously spent his law enforcement career at the Illinois State Police. On May 27, 2025, Padilla issued a report concluding that Allen's rifle did not malfunction and that Allen failed to remove his finger from the rifle’s trigger assembly while placing the bolt in the firing position.

"Padilla concluded that Lt. Allen unintentionally discharged his rifle while lowering the bolt. Padilla recommended the grievant be discharged from his employment for the unintended death of Gregory Walker as well as intentionally failing to file required reports subsequent to the shooting, all in violation of policies and directives of the Employer," the arbitrator noted.

After a pre-disciplinary meeting, Sheriff Mike Kelley issued his decision to discharge Lt. Allen on July 23, 2025.

Will County Sheriff's Termination Falls Apart

The final one-third of the 33-page ruling goes on to explain why the Will County Sheriff's agency did not make the proper decision in terms of ridding Lt. Allen from its police force.

"As to the investigation conducted prior to disciplining Lt. Allen, it was poorly conducted with a pre-ordained result," page 18 reads. "This conclusion is reached by the fact Padilla never examined the rifle, the CT scan data or watched a demonstration by grievant of his shooting technique, but
speculated that the discharge was caused by the grievant’s finger on the trigger. In fact, Padilla conceded he did not know where Lt. Allen’s finger was at the moment the rifle fired. He failed to interview witnesses, incorrectly claiming them to be outside his investigation, together with other critical omissions which undermined the accuracy of his findings. Of significance to finding the investigation was not fairly and objectively conducted is Padilla’s assertion before the
investigation concluded that a sympathetic discharge took place – a violation of the Agreement’s guarantee of a presumption of innocence in Section 5.2.5.

"Indeed, Padilla omitted exculpatory evidence from his report despite such evidence present in the FBI and Nth-Level examinations and reports. Finally, Sheriff Kelley is required by the Agreement to be present at the pre-disciplinary meeting, but he was not —a clear contractual violation. The evidence falls far short of that necessary to establish substantial and compelling evidence of the grievant’s guilt. There was no eyewitness to the grievant’s finger on the trigger. Padilla did not know where the grievant’s finger was at the moment the rifle discharged. The FBI never disassembled the rifle and its examiner was not an Accuracy International armorer. Indeed,
the independent firearms expert, Derek Watkins of Nth-Level, experienced an unintentional discharge of the same rifle during controlled testing, and he found the trigger pull poundage to be set well below safety standards set by the manufacturer."

On page 20, the arbitrator's ruling points out Lt. Allen's exemplary record of 15 years of service, his continued employment post -ncident when he worked for two years as the Watch Commander on the midnight shift, coupled with a discipline record that contains only a one-day suspension
for a car accident a decade prior, and no prior discipline for use of force issues ddemonstratesthe inappropriateness of the firing.

"Due to the fact a mechanical malfunction cannot be ruled out, and the evidence is ambiguous at best, the Employer simply cannot carry its burden of proof. The failure of the investigation ranges from the rifle to proper testing of the ammunition involved ... a number of additional issues were raised by the union in its brief seeking to set aside the grievant’s discharge, including the conduct of the pre-disciplinary hearing, the failure to call witnesses, and delay in issuing discipline. The decision of the arbitrator finding that just cause to discharge the grievant was not established by clear and convincing evidence renders the necessity
of addressing the remaining issues moot. The grievance is sustained."