Police officer acquitted in 95-year-old’s beanbag gun death

MARKHAM, Ill. (AP) — A judge has acquitted a suburban Chicago police officer of felony reckless conduct for killing a 95-year-old World War II veteran by shooting him with a beanbag gun at close range.

Cook County Judge Luciano Panici’s ruling today clears Park Forest Police Officer Craig Taylor of criminal wrongdoing in the 2013 death of John Wrana.

Taylor was one of several officers dispatched to the assisted living center where John Wrana lived in 2013 because Wrana had become combative with emergency workers and threatened staffers. Taylor shot John Wrana when the 95-year-old man brandished a knife. The medical examiner’s office determined Wrana died of internal bleeding from being struck in the abdomen by a beanbag.

Prosecutors say Taylor had safer options to subdue Wrana, but Taylor’s attorney says he acted properly.