Alton resident reports on Thursday's shooting

ALTON – Thursday morning's shooting left many Alton residents uneasy at the corner of 6th and Liberty Streets. Leann Swain, who lives on Liberty Street, shared her account of the incident.

According to Swain, she woke up at 5:24 a.m. and heard rustling in the vines on the side of her house. Shortly afterward, she saw flashlights.

“I laid back down (in bed) and told the dogs to stop,” Swain said. “I just couldn't get back to sleep.”

Swain said she looked out her back window and saw a police officer standing in her backyard. She believes the suspect ran away and hid near the space between her house and a neighbor's, where grapevines grew.

“I heard her (a police officer) say, 'Stay down or my dog ​​will bite you,'” she said. Then it went quiet, and then we (her and her children) heard a gunshot, then it went quiet again, and we heard many more.”

Then she instructed her children to lie on the floor until everything was quiet.

“We opened the door and saw the man (the suspect) lying on the ground,” she said. “We only found out later that a police officer had been shot.”

According to Swain, officers spent most of the day searching part of her backyard.

Shortly before the shooting, the suspect was spotted on the corner of 9th and Henry Streets. The suspect matched the description of a shooting that occurred on East Broadway on Wednesday evening. A foot chase ensued between police and the suspect, which led to the corner of 6th and Liberty Streets. After the shooting, the suspect was taken to a local hospital, where he has since been pronounced dead.

Alton police officer Allen Averbeck also fired shots at the scene. He has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home, according to Alton Mayor David Goins. Averbeck's canine partner Odin was also shot at the scene and also died. He was escorted by a procession of heroes from Hawthorne Animal Hospital in Glen Carbon to Gents Funeral Home in Alton.