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Affidavit provides new details on police shooting of Peoria man

Samuel "Vincent" Richmond, known as "Meat Man" to his community, spent 35 years employed at the Kroger in Peoria's East Bluff neighborhood.
Eterica Bradley
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Samuel "Vincent" Richmond, known as "Meat Man" to his community, spent 35 years employed at the Kroger in Peoria's East Bluff neighborhood.

A search warrant filed two days after the police shooting of 59-year-old Samuel Vincent Richmond provides new details on the hours before his death.

On Oct. 5, Illinois State Police filed for approval to search Richmond's 2014 silver Chevrolet Impala.

According to the affidavit, Peoria Police received a 911 call from a friend of Richmond's. The friend said Richmond made suicidal comments. The friend called a second time and told police that Richmond was recently diagnosed with cancer and had a Glock pistol.

Documents say that Peoria Police received two single round ShotSpotter alerts near 825 W. McBean Street. Four officers went to the area of Martin Luther King Jr. Park and found Richmond's Impala with a spent shell casing inside "in plain view."

The affidavit does not provide any specific explanation of why the officers fired at Richmond shortly after. Police Chief Eric Echevarria said Richmond was armed and put officers in a threatening situation. The search warrant does indicate that a black Glock pistol was found at the scene by an Illinois State Police Crime Scene team.

On Oct. 4, the affidavit says Richmond's friend gave police a handwritten note signed with Richmond's name. The note says, in part: "I'm so very tired. But I go now to my rest at peace. Knowing that I have done right with my time here on earth. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I kept the faith."

The Peoria Journal Star first reported on the document's existence.

On Oct. 11, relatives and friends of Richmond's gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. Park to celebrate what would have been his 60th birthday. His friends remember him as "an all-around good guy" and "a very, very honorable, respectable person."

The Illinois State Police investigation into the incident is ongoing. The Peoria Police Department has denied WCBU's Freedom of Information Act request for police body camera video and other materials related to the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. The station is appealing the ruling with the Public Access Counselor of the Illinois Attorney General's Office.

Collin Schopp is a reporter at WCBU. He joined the station in 2022.