Inmate Who Threatened To Shoot Crest Hill's Mayor Dies: Sheriff

JOLIET, IL — Joliet Patch has confirmed that the 78-year-old Will County Jail inmate who died last Friday was Richard Walkey, a Crest Hill resident accused of threatening to shoot longtime Crest Hill Mayor Ray Soliman.

Crest Hill police arrested Walkey on felony charges of threatening a public official, and put him in the Will County Jail on July 18. He remained there until his death. His bail was set at $100,000 and his private practice lawyer, Randy Gordon of Morris, had filed motions at the Will County Courthouse seeking to lower his client's bail to $10,000.

Will County's judges, however, had not gotten around to ruling on Gordon's motion seeking a lower bail at the time of Walkey's death. Walkey was supposed to have his next pretrial court hearing three days from now, on Friday.

On Tuesday, Will County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer informed Patch that the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force is now investigating the Crest Hill's inmate death.

During Tuesday's phone interview with Joliet Patch, the lawyer from Morris said he was not aware of any suspicious or questionable circumstances regarding Walkey's death.

"It's unfortunate," Gordon said. "He was a decent guy. Yes, he had these legal issues, and some of them related to issues of serving in Vietnam and his military service for our country. A lot of problems related to his service for our country."

Gordon had filed pretrial motions trying to get Walkey transported to the Hines VA Medical Center, but Will County Sheriff's officials informed Gordon that "he was not well enough to be transported," the Morris criminal lawyer told Patch on Tuesday.

Gordon said he was not sure if his client was not well enough mentally, physically, or both.
"He was starting to have issues in the jail, and we were trying to get him into treatment," Gordon said. "I always thought of him as pleasant. I've known him for a number of years."

Will County Judge Fred Harvey signed an order Aug. 9 for Walkey to be taken by the Will County Sheriff's Office to Hines VA by Aug. 9 for an evaluation. "After testing is complete, defendant to be transported back to the WCADF," Judge Harvey noted.

According to the Will County Sheriff's Office, the inmate was found in the facility's medical unit just before 11:45 a.m.

Staff and first responders rendered aid but were unable to revive the man, authorities said. Walkey was pronounced dead at the facility, and an autopsy performed on Saturday indicated the man died from a "medical emergency," authorities said.

Joliet Patch reached out to Crest Hill's mayor on Tuesday, and he wrote back saying, "pending the notification of family members, I do not wish to comment at this time."

According to the July 15 criminal complaint submitted by Crest Hill Detective Richard Reavis, Walkey delivered or communicated to Crest Hill Mayor Ray Soliman, a public official "a communication containing a threat that would place Raymond Soliman in reasonable apprehension of future bodily harm."

The threat was not a generalized threat, either; Walkey declared "that he would show up, shoot the place up and shoot the mayor," court records show.

Three summers ago, Joliet police arrested Walkey on felony charges as well, and those charges were still in the pretrial phase at the courthouse, his lawyer noted. In his Joliet criminal case, Walkey was charged with three felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Joliet police arrested Walkey on June 30, 2019.

Joliet Patch reported at the time that a 75-year-old Crest Hill man who lived on Kelly Avenue remains in the Will County Jail after Joliet police say he began waving one of his many guns at the Speedway Gas Station's customers around 2:15 a.m. on June 30. Joliet police say the incident occurred at the business in the 1600 block of West Jefferson Street.

Joliet police said in 2019 that Walkey was at the Speedway getting gas and while there, "got into a verbal argument with several (people) blocking the gas pumps. At one point during the argument, Walkey pulls out a gun and starts to point it at people."

Related Joliet Patch coverage: Speedway Gas Customer Waves Guns At Others: JPD