Illinois State Police crime scene technicians investigate the area outside a room at the Days Inn motel in Rantoul, after an armed robbery suspect was shot by police there on Tuesday Aug. 4, 2015. The man threatened to harm himself and police before a SWAT Team forcibly entered the room he holed up in for more than seven hours.
A bad guy with a gun and evil in his heart.
Or a bad guy who says he has a gun and then runs with what looks like a metal object in his hand after police reportedly tell him to surrender with his hands up.
Either way, a good guy with a gun put an end to Darius Graves’ violent career victimizing innocents with a single, well-placed shot Tuesday afternoon after an hours-long standoff at a Days Inn hotel in Rantoul, IL.
The News-Gazette reported why police were looking for him.
“He entered the store and after patrons left, confronted employees, displayed a handgun and ordered employees to the back of the store. He led one employee to the register where he took cash and cellphones from the employees. Nobody was hurt,” Bouse said.
Bouse said police received information Monday night that the suspect — they had seen him on video surveillance from the Hardee’s — was at the Days Inn. He declined to identify the man, but said he is not from Rantoul.
“Between 3 and 4 a.m., they tried to make contact with a man in one of the rooms. He made threatening statements to them and they could see what they believed to be a handgun in his waistband,” Bouse said of the face-to-face encounter between officers and the man.
Bouse said after seeing the gun and hearing the threats, the officers backed off and the METRO team was summoned.
It wasn’t like they didn’t give him countless opportunities to surrender, but he decided to go out in a blaze of glory.
So be it.
Thanks for saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maybe he thought that by provoking police to shoot him, his family can get a big payday from the “Black Lives Matter” crowd. Who knows.
All we know is that the residents of Champaign County will sleep safer with one less violent criminal predator in our midst.
Here’s the video of the last minute or two of the bad guy’s life. The News-Gazette’s a little behind the times and has no embed options.
To whomever that Champaign Police sergeant was: Thank you for keeping us safe. We’re glad you’re okay and appreciate you for stopping this violent criminal.