WIU Shooting Victim Expected to Recover

Tri States Public Radio | By Rich Egger

Published September 23, 2020 at 2:20 PM CDT

The scene on the night of the shooting. Thompson Hall is on the left.

A Western Illinois University spokesperson said the student who was shot in Thompson Hall on September 15 is expected to make a full recovery.

The student’s name and condition are not being released.

The university said the shooting was the result of a dispute between roommates, though it has not provided details about the dispute.

The suspect is Kavion Poplous, 18, of Chicago. He turned himself in to the FBI and police in Chicago the day after the shooting.

Poplous is charged with Attempted First-Degree Murder, Aggravated Battery, and Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm.

Rich Egger

Rich is the News Director at Tri States Public Radio. Rich grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago but now calls Macomb home. Rich has a B.A in Communication Studies with an Emphasis on Radio, TV, and Film from Northern Illinois University. Rich came to love radio in high school where he developed his “news nerdiness” as he calls it. Rich’s high school had a radio station called WFVH, which he worked at for a couple years. In college, Rich worked at campus station WKDI for three years, spinning tunes and serving at various times as General Manager, Music Director and Operations Manager. Before being hired as Tri States Public Radio’s news director in 1998, Rich worked professionally in news at WRMN-AM/WJKL-FM in Elgin and WJBC-AM in Bloomington. In Rich’s leisure time he loves music, books, cross-country skiing, rooting for the Cubs and Blackhawks, and baking sugar frosted chocolate bombs. His future plans include “getting some tacos.”

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