Deputy/Bailiff Gary Radloff
The victims of the shooting at the Cook County courthouse will bear the scars of the incident forever. But so will the people who feared for their lives—the emergency responders, the courthouse staff—and members of the jury. The Cook County News-Herald spoke with two jurors who shared the details of their frightening ordeal.
The shooting took place just after the four-day criminal sexual conduct case was over. Judge Mark Munger had accepted the verdicts from the jury. The jurors were officially released from their service, however, Judge Munger asked them to stay for a few minutes to discuss any questions or concerns. Instead of crowding into the tiny jury room, the judge invited them to take a seat in the courtroom. The door was closed for privacy.
The jurors we spoke with preferred to remain anonymous, but the first juror said they were talking casually when they heard a commotion. “At first we thought someone was knocking on the door—really hard. It almost sounded like a golf ball hitting a window or something,” she said.
Another juror was also puzzled by the sound. “It almost sounded like someone had dropped a pile of boxes in the hall.”
Then they realized that it was gunfire and Deputy/Bailiff Gary Radloff left the courtroom toward the sound. Juror One said they heard screaming but we didn’t know who it was. “We heard someone screaming, “Dan!
Dan! Dan!” she said.
Juror One said she thought about diving behind the jury box wall, but before she could do that, Nancy Backlund of the Cook County Court Administration office directed them through the jury room to the court admin office. The 12 people hastened into the court admin office and someone suggested heading out the back door, but Juror One said they didn’t want to go outside, not knowing if there was one shooter or two; if they were waiting outside; or if they could be waiting for jurors somewhere. “I told them, ‘I’m not going home!’” she said.
A state trooper directed the jurors to the basement so they headed cautiously down the several levels of stairways. As they reached a lower level, they heard someone running toward them. Some of the male jurors quickly slammed a door between them shut and blockaded it. They refused to open the door until the person identified himself as law enforcement. They know now it was Deputy David Gilmore. Once they realized it was safe, the men opened the door to let Gilmore respond to the shooting.
The jurors continued to the basement and found that a locker/shower room had a door with a lock. The 12 jurors crowded into the little area and locked the door—and waited. “We all prayed. At first everyone was excited and talking. But then we realized we should be quiet. Someone said, ‘Hush, hush!’” she said. “We started to recite the Lord’s Prayer, but then we realized it was time for silent prayer!”
After what seemed like forever, said Juror One, the same state trooper came back. “Are you in there?” he shouted. Again, the jury refused to open the door until the trooper too identified himself. When he did, they opened the door and were told it was safe to go home.
The jurors were still shaken and still were not sure it was safe. It wasn’t until later that evening when they saw the televised reports of the incident that they knew what had happened. It was terrifying—and frustrating, the juror said. “There was not one of us 12 jurors who did not fear for their lives. We were there as citizens to serve and we did our job,” she said. “I feel really bad for the families of everyone involved.”
The second juror said it was frightening, but added that she was pleased with how everyone behaved. “The directions we were given made sense and to me we were taking the necessary precautions,” she said. “I’m very proud of our whole group,” she added. “There was no screaming, no running. Everyone remained calm and acted like a group.”
She asked about Bailiff Radloff and was relieved to hear that he was okay. “We were all worried about him. The last we saw, he was heading out the door with his gun in his hand. We prayed to keep him safe—to keep everyone safe,” she said.
“If we get anything out of this, it’s that we have to treasure the little things,” said Juror One.
Leave a Reply