In the quiet pre-dawn hours of Feb. 15, a domestic-disturbance call in Palos Hills ended with a 37-year-old man dead and his parents demanding to know how it all happened, and why they were not told for hours.
Police were called to a Cour Versaille townhome in the early morning and encountered an armed man outside, according to local reporting. Officers opened fire, and the man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The Cook County medical examiner recorded multiple gunshot wounds, and police recovered a firearm at the scene, as reported by ABC7 Chicago.
Family presses for answers
Nora and Gary Facko say they were left in the dark for nearly half a day after the shooting. They told Chicago Tribune they were notified about their son Gerhardt’s death roughly 10 hours after it happened and are still trying to piece together the timeline.
“He was shot about 4:20 in the morning, and we didn’t get any call until about 2 o’clock from the police,” Gary Facko told the paper. Nora added that Gerhardt called her every day at 3 p.m., a ritual that made the delayed notification especially painful.
Investigation and review
The Illinois State Police says the Palos Hills Police Department requested a Division of Criminal Investigation team to probe the officer-involved shooting. When that state review is complete, the file will be turned over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for review…