A man is dead after he was shot Tuesday afternoon during an alleged altercation with Peoria Police in the East Bluff neighborhood.
A statement from Police Chief Eric Echevarria says officers responded shortly after 5 p.m. to reports of a suspicious person armed with a wooden bat near the intersection of NE Glen Oak Avenue and North Prospect Road.
Echevarria says the man began swinging the bat at police, striking one. The chief says one officer deployed a Taser, while another discharged a firearm.
After being taken into custody, the man became unresponsive. Attempts at life-saving measures were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His official cause of death will be determined and his identity will be released later by the Peoria County coroner.
Echevarria said the incident has been turned over to the Illinois State Police for independent investigation, according to standard protocol for a death related to officer-involved use of force.
The results of that investigation will be turned over to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office for review.
