(IL) Fatal shooting of intruder jusified 10-27-04

Address:http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/102704/new_20041027030.shtml
Changed:8:17
PM on Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Fatal shooting deemed justified
Intruder shot in Toluca home
By Greg Stanmar
[email protected]

TOLUCA — No charges will be filed in connection with the death of a
Lacon man who burst into a home in the middle of the night and was shot
by the homeowner.

Douglas Sullivan, 37, was shot once in the chest with a 9-mm handgun and
died almost instantly, authorities said.

Marshall County State’s Attorney Paul Bauer said homeowner Brad Burns
was justified in shooting Sullivan with his registered handgun.

Bauer said there was no clear reason why Sullivan would have targeted
the family, but initial reports said he had been drinking at a party
near the Burnses’ home.

Burns, his wife and 2-year-old son were in the house when Sullivan
pounded on the door about 2 a.m. and then threw a child’s slide through
a kitchen window. Then “all hell broke loose,” Bauer said.

Burns loaded his gun and found Sullivan in the main bedroom, Bauer said.

The commotion was loud enough to wake “all the neighbors” in this
middle-class neighborhood of ranch-style homes across the street from
Fieldcrest West Elementary School, Bauer said. Toluca is about 20 miles
north of Minonk.

Bauer and Toluca Police Chief Mark Johnson said Sullivan did not know
Burns.

“It’s the kind of thing (the Burnses) are never going to forget,”
Johnson said.

The family is staying with relatives as deputies, prosecutors and
investigators continue to look into the shooting.

At the time of his death, Bauer said, Sullivan faced pending charges of
drunken driving and domestic battery.