Southern Illinois News

Illinois State Senator Terri Bryant offered her condolences in the wake of a State Police Trooper's injury in a Facebook post published on Friday.

"My prayers and heartfelt thoughts go out to the veteran Illinois State Trooper who was injured in the line of duty early this morning," Bryant wrote.

In November, Bryant ran unopposed in the general election and was reelected to her seat representing Illinois' 58th District in the Illinois State Senate. Her legislative experience includes serving on the Behavioral and Mental Health Committee and the Energy and Public Utilities Committee.

In her initial post, Bryant added a link to a related post published by the Illinois State Police (ISP) on Tuesday.

"On 5/9/23, at approximately 3:00 a.m., ISP Troop 10 units responded to a motorists assist near Mt. Vernon on Interstate 64 eastbound," the ISP wrote. "During the incident, an altercation occurred, and the male suspect displayed a firearm. Gunfire was exchanged between the suspect and the Troopers.  A 16-year veteran of the ISP received non-life-threatening injuries as a result of gunfire during the incident and is being treated at a regional hospital. The suspect is deceased. Initially, all lanes of I-64 eastbound were closed but were reopened at approximately 6:25 a.m. ISP Division of Internal Investigation is leading an active and ongoing investigation and no further information is available. All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law."

According to ABC 7, during the aforementioned incident on I-64, a person in the stalled vehicle exchanged gunfire with one of the two responding ISP troopers who was a 16-year veteran of the force. The officer, whose name has not yet been made public, was taken to the hospital and was last reported as having serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The other individual involved in the shootout was pronounced dead on the scene. The motorist's passenger and the second responding trooper were uninjured.