Will Co. Sheriff's 'Cover Up Is Certainly Troubling': Lawyer Says

JOLIET, IL — Will County Sheriff's deputies failed to help remove Eldred Wells from the presence of his knife-wielding grandson, Jabbar Muhammad, and those mistakes caused the Joliet Township grandfather's untimely death, according to Tinley Park lawyer Keenan Saulter, who recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Wells' family.

"It's our assertion that once these deputies entered the home, they knew they needed to separate Mr. Wells from Mr. Muhammad," Saulter told Joliet Patch this week. "Although Mr. Muhammad had not harmed Mr. Wells, these officers had a duty to Mr. Wells to get him safely away and keep Mr. Wells out of harm's way."

Muhammad, 21, got released from Silver Oaks Behavioral Hospital just hours before he and his grandfather were fatally shot by deputies.

"We know that within 32 seconds" of deputies entering the house, "their service weapons are drawn, and they shot in a way that we would describe as reckless, instead of attempting to help Mr. Wells," Saulter said.

Even though the deadly police shooting happened on Nov. 6, 2021, the Will County Sheriff's Office delayed concluding its internal affairs investigation for more than a year, waiting until after Sheriff Mike Kelley's re-election race was decided, and waiting until after the Saulter Law Office filed its wrongful death lawsuit against the sheriff's office in October.

"That investigation was completed on November 15, 2022," Chief Deputy Sheriff Dan Jungles said on Monday. "That investigation concluded that the officers that used deadly force in this encounter were justified in their actions, and there were no policy violations associated with the actions of those officers.

"The Will County Sheriff’s Office would like to extend our sincere condolences to all of the family members of the Wells and Muhammad families affected by this incident. As well our gratitude to the deputies of the Will County Sheriff’s Office that responded to this incident. Those officers and their families also have to deal with the uncertainty and raw emotions associated with violent incidents such as this."

Lawyer Not Suprised Deputies Cleared

Patch asked Saulter for his reaction to the news that the Will County Sheriff's administration determined that no internal discipline was warranted for Binnendyk and Warren, the two deputies who fatally shot Wells, the domestic violence victim.

"I wasn't surprised that they cleared their own officers from policy and procedure violations," Saulter remarked. "The standard they use is not the same as the civil justice system, which will test these officers' conduct. What's troubling to me is why the family is seeking justice in this case. One concern I have is the sheriff's department 911 dispatchers advising (there was) a mental health issue with Jabbar Muhammad. Ten days prior, the Will County Sheriff's Office was called to the residence for another mental health (episode) and he went into a facility and got out on the morning (of the shootings).

"It should have been clear from the 911 center that this was a domestic, dealing with someone having a mental health crisis," Saulter continued. The lawyer said that a reasonable police officer or sheriff's deputy should know not to approach a mentally disturbed person in the same way as an ordinary citizen.

Saulter said that if the conduct of Binnendyk and Warren was acceptable, "no one would ever call the police. I would argue this shooting was tragic. The conduct of these officers was clearly reckless."

Even though all the Will County Sheriff's deputies who went inside the Wells family house on Middletree Road had their bodycams turned on, Sheriff Kelley and Jungles chose to withhold releasing the videos to the news media for more than a year.

On Monday, Jungles released the bodycam videos to Joliet Patch and CBS Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Dave Savini —but only after Joliet Patch had appealed Kelley's most recent Freedom of Information Act denial to the Public Access Counselor of Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

Last week, Raoul's legal staff notified Patch they had contacted the sheriff's office for material regarding the Will County Sheriff's Office's previous FOIA denials. Patch has now obtained five bodycam videos released by the sheriff.

Muhammad Tells Deputy To Stop Right Here

Using Binnendyk's bodycam, the key sequence of events in the deadly Will County police shootings are as follows:

Shortly after 4 p.m., Binnendyk walks up to the Wells house in the 300 block of Middletree Road in the Preston Heights-Sugar Creek subdivision.

It's a domestic dispute. Nobody's has been attacked or injured.

When he gets to the front porch, Binnendyk is unsure where Jabbar Muhammad is.

"How's it going? Is he in the car?" Binnendyk asks. "You're cousin or brother?"

"Brother," Jabbar's brother answers.

"Are they both in there?" Binnendyk asks.

Jabbar's brother motions with his hand for Binnendyk to enter the house.

"Sheriff's Department" Binnendyk announces as he opens the door.

At that point, Muhammad had been discharged from the Silver Oaks Behavioral Hospital in New Lenox for less than five hours. He had been under psychiatric care the previous week after having psychotic delucions of suicide and killing people, court records show.

Muhammad, 21, lived with his grandparents in Joliet Township, and he had no prior criminal record, Will County court records show.

During his last minute alive, Muhammad extends his left hand as Binnendyk enters his grandfather's living room.

"Stop right there, please," Muhammad warns Binnendyk.

Muhammad is clutching a small knife in his right hand as his grandfather stands three or four feet away. Meanwhile, a music video from the heavy metal band Korn, "Falling Away from Me," is blaring on the living room TV.

"What's going on? Put the knife down," Binnendyk commands.

"Stop right there! Stop right there, please," Muhammad repeats. "Listen to me, please."

"Put the knife down! Put the knife down!" Binnendyk demands.

"Listen to me, please," Muhammad shouts back. "Please, please, stop right there. Stop right there now. No, please."

"Put the knife down," Binnendyk shouts.

"I will not put this knife down now," Muhammad responds. "I want to do ...

Binnendyk interupts Muhammad and screams, "Put the knife down!"

"My mother!" Muhammad responds.

Less than 30 seconds have elapsed since Binnendyk entered the living room. Two other deputies are now inside as well, one is standing next to Binnedyk holding his Taser and the other deputy is Warren, standing closer to door.

Then, one last time, Binnendyk screams at Muhammad, "Put the knife down! Put the knife down! Put it down!"

Muhammad does not say anything, and does not drop the knife.

Instead, he crouches toward the floor, then he jumps with the knife and lunges at his grandfather's neck as Binnendyk fires his gun.

Muhammad and Wells tumble into the kitchen, landing on the floor as Binnendyk and Warren unload their bullets into the stabber and the stabbing victim.

Eldred Wells Caught In the Crossfire

For about one second, Binnendyk and Warren cease fire. Then, for another three seconds, Binnendyk and Warren fire several more gunshots at Wells and Muhammad on the kitchen floor.

Meanwhile, while standing on the porch, Jabbar's brother hears the gunfire and he runs back into the house.

"No!" the brother screams and begins crying uncontrollably. Other deputies in the room usher him outside the house where his calls someone and says, "Sissy, Jabbar just got shot by the cops."

Back in the kitchen, Binnendyk tries to perform CPR on the 70-year-old grandfather.

"Sir, what's your name?" Binnendyk asks. "What's your name?"

Wells is unresponsive.

Binnendyk cuts open Wells's shirt and announces, "I'm starting CPR."

After several seconds of chest compressions, Binnendyk declares,"Sir, stay with me. Come on, stay with me!"

Over the next couple minutes, more sheriff's deputies enter the house and ask about gunshot wounds for Wells.

"I don't know, I don't know. He might in the back," Binnendyk answers. "He might be in the back. OK, we got a stab wound."

After another minute of CPR, Binnendyk announces, "Come on, man, stay with me. Stay with me."

Eventually, another deputy kneels down to put bandages on Wells' stab wound.

Binnendyk later tells the other deputy, "he's got a pretty bad stab wound to the neck. He might have been caught in the gunfire, I don't know."

For the next five months, Jungles and Kelley decided to keep it secret that Wells suffered several gunshot wounds.

CBS Channel 2 investigative reporter Dave Savini broke the story in April.

In Monday's press release statement, the sheriff's administration noted that Muhammad had stabbed his grandfather and sheriff's deputies shot and killed Muhammad in defense of Wells.

"At the time of the incident, it was unknown by Will County Sheriff’s Office personnel if Eldred Wells was struck by gunfire as a result of the deputies firing their service weapons. During the investigation, the Will/Grundy Major Crimes Task Force advised the Will County Sheriff’s Office that Eldred Wells was struck by gunfire."

Knife Wounds Were Superficial: Attorney

This week, Saulter, the wrongful death attorney for the Wells family, told Patch that independent medical experts found that the knife wounds to Wells' neck were superficial. A stab wound would penetrate deep into someone's skin, but that did not happen, according to Saulter.

"That is simply factually and forensically inaccurate," he said.

He said the wrongful death lawsuit will delve into "these officers' training, backgrounds and experience in dealing with potential victims of domestic violence and people undergoing a mental health crisis or domestic dispute calls.

Wells said the autopsy determined that Wells suffered at least three or four gunshots.

"The coverup is certainly troubling," Saulter said. "Why was it important to bury the video from the public and why would you tell the public that Mr. Wells died of stab wounds to the neck when these are superficial cuts, when he definitely didn't and wouldn't have died from them?

"There's a lot of unanswered questions."

According to this week's sheriff's office statement, "It initially appeared to responding deputies that Jabbar was complying with deputies commands as he began to crouch down with his hands up, acting as if he was going to place the knife on the ground. Without warning, Jabbar lunged at his grandfather with the knife, stabbing Eldred in the neck several times. Deputies fired their service weapons, at Jabbar Muhammad, in defense of Eldred’s life.

"Jabbar Muhammad was shot several times by responding deputies. Both Jabbar and Eldred fell to the floor upon Jabbar being shot. After being shot numerous times, Jabbar continued to stab his grandfather as the two were laying on the floor. The deputies again, fired their service weapons multiple times in an attempt to stop Jabbar Muhammad’s deadly actions."

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