Alexis Wilson: Family Seeks Answers After Illinois Teen Shot Dead By Police
Alexis Wilson, 19, of Homewood, Illinois, was shot and killed by a police officer after a confrontation outside of a restaurant.
The Dothan Police Department has yet to account for the violence they have inflicted upon Alexis Wilson, who lost her life when she encountered uniformed officers one night in a small city about 40 miles outside Chicago. The family and community awaits justice.
The following account has been culled together from news reports.
Alexis Wilson, 19, of Homewood, Illinois, had big plans, according to her family. The 19-year-old was training to become a certified autism therapist after being inspired to better aid her 9-year-old brother, who has autism.
Alexis was also looking forward to attending Prairie State College in Chicago Heights. She also was making preparations to open her own lash studio.
“She had a lot of plans,” her mother, Cara Wilson, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“She was putting them all into action, and I was watching, and I was amazed by that,” Wilson was quoted as saying. “And now that’s gone, everything she planned, everything is just gone.”
The abrupt end came about due to a disagreement that turned deadly outside a Dolton, Illinois, restaurant around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, July 27, 2021.
Alexis and her boyfriend got a to-go order at Baba's Steak and Lemonade. Minutes later, the couple returned to the drive-thru. Alexis was not happy.
"She was upset about her food," Joseph Williams, Alexis’ brother, told WLS TV. "They messed her order up. She went back and said, 'You either going to give me the money back or you're going to correct the order.'"
At that point, the eatery had been closed for several minutes. Soon police were called; they showed up under the premise that an angry woman with a gun was in the drive-thru. That’s when things went downhill.
Once police came on the scene, they ordered Alexis and her boyfriend out of the vehicle. Her boyfriend got out of the car first. Alexis remains inside.
She told the officer she wasn’t properly dressed, and they reportedly responded by telling her to put on a robe. Detectives would later confirm that she only had on a coat and a shirt.
Bodycam video footage of the incident shows that an officer either tries to snatch the keys out of the ignition of her red minivan or attempts to forcibly remove Alexis. At that same time, on the passenger side, another officer tries to enter the vehicle; Wilson hits the gas pedal, dragging him a distance. That’s when at least two Dolton police officers open fire on Alexis.
The van crashes into a nearby bike shop. The officers rush to aid the officer who made it inside the van; no one initially attends to Alexis. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
"She did not have a gun," Williams, Wilson's uncle, told TV news. "You try to put a gun in her hand. She'd back away, she was a little girl".
To their disbelief and anger, Wilson’s family learns about Alexis’ death from the TV news. They also have to wait two days before they are allowed to retrieve Alexis’ body. But what the Dolton Police Department also held on to was the complete video footage of the deadly encounter.
That’s when questions began to be raised about what the department’s honesty and forthrightness and why they were seemingly stonewalling the family.
Further inflaming tensions were the initial statements from Mayor Tiffany Heynard, who said she stood with the officers and that they did the right thing.
After protests outside her home, Heynard would later retract those statements.
“As a mother and a daughter, my heart is heavy for the family of Ms. Alexis Wilson,” Heynard said. “The words that I expressed previously were based upon the information at the time and were not meant to overshadow the significance of Ms. Wilson's life, nor cause additional pain to the Wilson family. For this, I am terribly sorry. I offer this public apology and have every intention of extending my private apology to Ms. Alexis Wilson's parents.”
During an investigation, police said that a restaurant worker called 911 to report that a woman drove up to the drive-thru window and was threatening them with a firearm. But surveillance video of the incident appears to show Wilson with what looks like a long pipe.
The video also unearthed another thing that the police department didn’t initially report: When the officer approached Wilson’s car, telling her to exit the van, he brutally punched her.
Police Chief Robert M. Collins Jr. told reporters this: “It can be assumed that it was a punch, but I can’t assume that it is and I can’t assume that it isn’t.”
Wilson was shot seven times, twice in the head, according to the family’s attorney. An autopsy report remains to be seen.
Nearly six months after the fatal shooting, Wilson’s family filed an injunction to force Dolton to respond to FOIA requests.
“On January 27, 2022, we made several FOIA related requests to Dolton, as we continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Alexis’ killing,” Wilson family attorney, Rahsaan Gordon said. “Dolton continues to flagrantly ignore the Wilson family’s requests, while choosing to willfully violate Illinois law,” Gordon said.
“From the very day Alexis was shot and killed by Dolton police officers, up until until today, Dolton officials have repeatedly mislead the public about the truth surrounding her killing. They’ve given misinformation and have released an edited video, all in an effort to support a false narrative. Doubling down, they now refuse to respond to lawful requests made by her parents, who desperately seek more information about her killing,” Gordon added.
“This is a continuous effort by Dolton officials to cover up the truth and protect their police officers from accountability for their role in killing Alexis Wilson,” Gordon said.
“If Dolton officials didn’t have anything to hide, they would follow the law and turn over the requested information. Their efforts to conceal the truth only serves to undermine the public trust. ” Gordon said.