A Peoria police officer is on administrative leave after returning fire during an incident in the East Bluff early Sunday morning.
Peoria Police Public Information Officer Amy Dotson said police responded to a house in the 300 block of E. Virginia around 4:30 a.m. after a woman called to request police before hanging up. The woman didn't pick up when a dispatcher called back, Dotson said.
When police arrived, a man with a gun was spotted outside the house. The man refused to drop his weapon, and fired two shots at the officer, Dotson said. The officer fired an unknown number of shots back.
Neither the officer nor suspect were hit during the exchange.
The man then got into a vehicle and fled eastbound on Virginia. A police chase ended when the man crashed into the front porch of a house in the 2600 block of N. Missouri.
The suspect was identified as 27-year-old Jordan Cremer of Peoria. He was arrested for aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated assault to police (2 counts), fleeing and eluding, and various traffic citations.
Dotson said Cremer threw a handgun from the vehicle during the police chase. That handgun was found.
Dotson said a total of three separate ShotSpotter alerts activated in the area between 4:30 and 4:31 a.m. Nobody was injured.
The Peoria Police Department is turning over all body camera and dash camera footage to the Illinois State Police for investigation.
The Peoria Police Department has been involved in three deadly officer-involved shootings since September 2017. Then-Peoria County State's Attorney Jerry Brady found the use of deadly force justified in the cases of Eddie Russell, Jr.; Daniel El; and Luis Cruz.
