An Illinois State Police trooper died from wounds suffered early Friday while executing a search warrant in East St. Louis.
Trooper Nicholas Hopkins, 33, of Waterloo, a 10-year veteran of the force, was wounded during an exchange of gunfire while serving the warrant at an East St. Louis home, said State Police Acting Director Brendan Kelly. He later died at a hospital.
After the shooting, police surrounded the home and arrested three people. Police remained on the scene throughout the day, uncertain if another suspect was barricaded in the house, according to authorities. The three people arrested were not identified.
Police didn't say if anyone else was shot, nor have they revealed the issues addressed in the search warrant.
Waterloo Mayor Tom Smith says Hopkins was married and the father of four-year-old twins and an infant daughter.
"It is nearly impossible to express the depth of my sadness and my condolences to the entire Hopkins' family and his friends and the Illinois State Police family," Kelly said. "I give my thanks to troopers who performed CPR for an extended period on their fellow trooper to sustain their brother's life so that his family could see him one last time."
In a statement following the shooting, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker noted state troopers display unbelievable courage and "put their lives on the line for us every single day."
"Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this dangerous, active situation in East St. Louis and every day," he said.
U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Steve Weinhoeft says the area where the shooting of Hopkins occurred is "particularly dangerous."
"He (Hopkins) was trying to make that community safer for every man, woman and child," Weinhoeft said.
The shooting Friday, was the latest of law enforcement officers while attempting to serve a warrant, and the second of an Illinois State trooper this month.
A Philadelphia man who barricaded himself in a house is charged with attempted murder for the Aug. 14 shooting of six police officers.
Maurice Hill, 36, is accused of shooting at officers who were serving a drug warrant and then keeping police at bay while he fired from inside a building. The six officers were released after being treated at hospitals. Four other men are charged with drug offenses.
A suburban Chicago man has been charged with attempted murder for shooting and wounding an Illinois state trooper who was serving a warrant at the man's home.
The wounded trooper was with other officers attempting to serve the warrant Aug. 15 at the home of Volodymyr Dragan, 43, of Wheeling when someone inside fired shots, striking a trooper in the arm. Dragan is being held without bond.
The officer was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries that weren't life-threatening.
In addition to attempted murder, Dragan also is charged with aggravated battery with a firearm to a police officer, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated assault of a police officer.
Illinois State Police has also suffered an unusual number of fatalities this year with the deaths of three troopers.
Troopers Christopher Lambert, in January, and Brooke Jones-Story, in March, were struck by vehicles. Trooper Gerald Ellis died in an automobile crash in March.
TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”
Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.
The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.
In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
