Man who allegedly shot 2 Macomb officers appears in court

MACOMB, Ill. (WTVO) — Shaiking Mathis, 38, who is accused of shooting two Macomb officers, appeared in court via video on Friday afternoon.

Mathis is facing four counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm.

Mathis allegedly shot Detective Severs in the hip and Sergeant JP McLaughlin was shot in the leg when they attempted to execute a search warrant at Mathis’s residence. Mathis is also accused of shooting at Leuitenant Todd Tedrow, who was not hit.

The State’s Attorney Matt Kwacala said the authorities went to the suspect’s home to get his side of the story regarding a alleged sexual assault.

Mathis did not asnwer his door when officials arrived the first time and police then obtained a search warrant to knock again, according to Kwacala. The suspect did not answer again after police announced themselves two times, Tri State Public Radio said.

Officials were fired at immediatly once forcing their way into the home, according to the state’s attorney. Kwacala closed by telling the judge Mathis should be detained until his next court hearing because he is a danger to the public.

A standoff with authorities lasted for nearly 20 hours until his lawyer from the Chicago area arrived. He then surrendered in the afternoon Thursday.

Mathis has two prior felonies making him a felon who cannot own firearms or have a FOID card.

Mathis’s Defense Attorney Michael Jarard said his client has never been involved in a violent crime, did not know they were police and should be placed on house arrest with pretrial monitoring.

Judge Nigel Grahm decided the shooting was a violent crime and the suspect should have known they were police after a 20 hour standoff.

Mathis was denied pretrial release and faces his next preliminary hearing on September 30th.

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