Des Plaines to pay $1.9M settlement to teen shot by police
The city of Des Plaines will by nearly $2 million to a Chicago teen who was shot by police inside a music school in Old Irving Park in 2019. Officers were pursing a bank robbery suspect when they opened fire in the music studio and struck 15-year-old Rylan Wilder.
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DES PLAINES, Ill. – A teenage music prodigy who was shot by suburban police pursing a pair of bank robbers was awarded nearly $2 million in a settlement with the city of Des Plaines.
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Rylan Wilder, now 19, was shot and severely injured at a music school on Chicago’s Northwest Side on Nov. 19, 2019.
Wilder was attending Lane Tech High School at the time of the shooting and interned at UpBeat Music and Arts located at 4318 W. Irving Park Road.
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At about 4:30 p.m. that day, Maurice Murphy and Christopher Willis, both of Chicago, robbed the Bank of America branch in Des Plaines located at 1300 East Oakton Street at gunpoint.
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The pair stole $15,500 in cash and fled the scene. Police responded and arrested Murphy.
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Maurice Murphy <!–>
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Willis continued to flee and committed a carjacking before leading Des Plaines and Chicago police on a high speed chase on the Kennedy Expressway. He eventually exited at Irving Park Road.
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Prosecutors say Willis eventually stopped at UpBeat Music and Arts at about 6:30 p.m., the same time Wilder was finishing up his shift.
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As a student was being buzzed into the school, Willis followed armed with a gun. Wilder and the other students tried to leave the school as police entered.
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Prosecutors say officers with Des Plaines police came inside and started firing. Willis was shot and killed during the incident.
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Wilder was struck in the left arm and left side. Prosecutors say Wilder has undergone 18 surgeries, has bone shards in his left arm and may never fully recover from his injuries. He still has no feeling in his left arm, hand and fingers.
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Prosecutors say Wilder was a guitar prodigy and at just 15, he was the youngest person to have ever played at the music festival Riot Fest.
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His lawyers filed a lawsuit alleging Des Plaines police’s actions were “excessive” and that he displayed “reckless, willful and wanton conduct” and did not consider the safety of innocent citizens at the music school when he went in shooting.
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Wilder now attends Columbia College majoring in music technology. He underwent three hours of physical therapy a day for almost three years, but has not given up on his music dream. He started playing guitar again 2.5 years ago. He says he is not as good as he was before the shooting, but he is getting better and making adjustments.
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The City of Des Plaines paid Wilder $1.9 million in a settlement just days before jury selection was set to begin for trial.
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Wilder and his family will speak publicly about the settlement with their lawyers Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
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The Wilder family will be back in court before their news conference for an Order of Default Judgment against defendants, Maurice Murphy and the Special Administrator of the Estate of Christopher Willis.
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