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Body camera footage from the moment Bradley, Illinois, police Sergeant Marlene Rittmanic was fatally shot revealed she pleaded for her life in her last moments.
Rittmanic and her partner Officer Tyler Bailey encountered Xandria Harris and Darius Sullivan on December 29 when they were called to a noise complaint at a Comfort Inn.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that at a bond hearing for Harris, Kankakee County State Attorney Jim Rowe said Sullivan had used his gun to shoot Bailey in the head. As of the Monday hearing, he was hospitalized and "fighting for his life," Rowe added.
After shooting Bailey, Sullivan shot Rittmanic and chased her down a hallway and pinned her against the door, Rowe said. Harris then allegedly joined Sullivan to help him disarm Rittmanic. And once they had succeeded, they pointed the guns at her while she begged them to stop.
"Sgt. Rittmanic was pleading with them to, 'Just leave, you don't have to do this, please just go, please don't, please don't,'" Rowe said. "She was desperately pleading for her life."
Prosecutors believe Sullivan used Rittmanic's own gun to shoot her, the Sun-Times reported. According to Rowe, after shooting her twice in the neck, Harris gave Sullivan their car keys and said "You have to go," while she went back to the hotel room for her two children.
Sullivan was arrested in Indiana and remains in custody there. Harris surrendered to the Bradley Police Department a few hours after Sullivan was detained.
At the hearing, the Sun-Times said that Harris was denied bail. Rowe said she "actively assisted and enabled Darius Sullivan throughout the course of the murder of Sgt. Rittmanic and (attempted) murder of Officer Bailey, and she is equally responsible."
Rowe said the encounter was captured on Rittmanic's body camera.
Sullivan and Harris are charged with fatally shooting Rittmanic, 49, and critically wounding Bailey, 27. Sullivan, who was arrested in Indiana, is fighting extradition to Illinois.
Rowe said his office will seek life sentences on the state charges. He has asked the Justice Department to review the case with the intention of pursuing federal death penalty charges. Illinois is not a death penalty state.
Rowe said in a news release that there is "recent precedent" for pursuing the federal death penalty for the murder of a law enforcement officer and also precedent for pursuing it in "non-death penalty states."
A message seeking additional comment was left for Rowe on Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
