Mother Sues Highland Park, 2 Cops

The mother of a man fatally shot at NorthShore Highland Park Hospital in November is suing the city of Highland Park and two police officers involved.

Venus Anderson filed the wrongful-death suit in federal court Sunday, alleging Highland Park Police Officers Brian Reif and Kevin Roberts used “excessive, unreasonable” force when firing nine shots in 1.7 seconds to kill her son, 27-year-old Waukegan man Christopher Anderson on November 3.

“His life didn’t have to be taken like that,” Anderson’s mother Venus Anderson told NBC-Chicago. “It was senseless and I just want to see justice done for my son and I want my son’s children he left behind to be taken care of.”

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Christopher Anderson was a passenger in a vehicle crash along with his 9-year-old daughter earlier in the night on 94 near Lake Cook Road on November 3 and taken to the hospital, where a few hours later a 911 call was made indicating Anderson had a gun.

Police responded and shot Anderson, who authorities say pulled the gun from his waistband and “refused to put it down despite repeated warnings.”

“My son died senselessly,” Venus Anderson said in a phone interview with the Chicago Tribune. “There was no reason for him to die in that room.”

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The Lake County state’s attorney’s office determined in November that officers did follow protocol in the incident.

A surveillance video in the emergency room shows hospital workers running from the area in which the shooting took place. Hear the 911 call.

“For about three minutes, there is chaos in the emergency room as officers come and go before a doctor wheels Anderson on a cart to a nearby emergency area,” the Daily Herald described.

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Neither the Highland Park Police Department nor the city would comment on the lawsuit as of early Tuesday, both claiming they have yet to see the complaint.

Steven Elrod, corporate Counsel for the city of Highland Park, did state to NBC that based on all the “known facts,” the city has “no basis for liability.”

Venus Anderson is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, although a specific amount was not stated.