Man found guilty of murder of Bradley police sergeant – NBC Chicago

A man accused of killing a suburban Bradley police sergeant with his own gun in December 2021 was found guilty of murder by a Kankakee County jury Thursday after about 70 minutes of deliberations.

Darius Sullivan, who was 25 at the time of the murder, was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer and three counts of endangering the life of a child.

Sullivan shot Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic died after officers responded to a noise complaint about dogs barking in a parked car near a hotel on December 29, 2021.

Rittmanic's partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, determined that the vehicle belonged to Xandria Harris, a person who was with Sullivan at the time of the murder and was also charged.

Harris was an acquaintance of Bailey's and met Rittmanic in the hotel lobby and asked if there were any rooms booked under Harris' or Sullivan's name.

The hotel clerk sent officers to Room 308, which was booked by Sullivan, who was wanted on outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court and had previously fled Bradley officers who had attempted to arrest him on the warrants, Rowe said.

Officers received no response from the room after they first knocked at about 10:13 p.m. About a minute later, officers knocked again – this time Bailey loudly said, “It's the police” and asked Harris to leave the room to address the complaint about the noisy dogs, Rowe said. Harris allegedly responded “yes” and indicated she was leaving the room.

Officers knocked on the door at least three more times within a few minutes and told Harris to come out, Rowe said. Each time she replied that she would come.

After waiting about 14 minutes, Harris attempted to force his way through the door and close it, ostensibly to prevent officers from taking Sullivan into custody.

Rittmanic and her partner repeatedly asked Harris to stop blocking the door, Rowe said. Eventually, Sullivan came around the corner of the hotel room armed with a 9mm handgun and a drum magazine, prosecutors said.

As Harris struggled with the officers, Sullivan pointed the gun and shot Bailey in the head, Rowe said. He then allegedly pointed the gun at Rittmanic and shot her as she tried to run away.

Sullivan allegedly chased Rittmanic down the hallway before pushing her against a door. Sullivan struggled to unlock his gun with his right hand and mouth while simultaneously trying to disarm Rittmanic with his left hand, Rowe said.

As the scuffle broke out, Sullivan shouted to Harris and told her to “cock the gun, cock the gun,” prosecutors said. Harris joined Sullivan and helped him successfully disarm Rittmanic.

The two then stood over Rittmanic and pointed guns at her as she lay on the ground and had already been shot once, Rowe said. She begged Sullivan not to shoot her.

“Sgt. Rittmanic pleaded with her, 'Just go, you don't have to do this, please just go, please don't, please don't,'” Rowe said. “She was desperately pleading for her life.”

While Harris was holding Sullivan's gun, Sullivan allegedly fired two shots from what prosecutors believe was Rittmanic's gun, striking the sergeant in the neck area.

After the shooting, Harris gave Sullivan the keys and told him, “You have to go,” Rowe said. Sullivan fled down the hotel stairs before driving away in a vehicle. Meanwhile, Harris retreated to the hotel room, where she gathered her belongings and picked up her two children, who were in the room at the time, before fleeing, Rowe said.

Rittmanic, 49, and Bailey, 27, were taken to hospitals in critical condition, and Rittmanic later died, police said. Bailey remained in the intensive care unit until the end of January 2022.

Sullivan was arrested without incident about 9 a.m. by the U.S. Marshal's Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force after leaving a home in North Manchester, Indiana, a town about 35 miles west of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Harris, accompanied by her attorney, turned herself in to Bradley police about seven hours after Sullivan's arrest.

During her bail hearing, Rowe said Harris “actively aided and abetted Darius Sullivan throughout the course of the murder of Sgt. Rittmanisch and [attempted] Murder of Officer Bailey, and she is equally responsible.”