He Survived a Shotgun Ambush Then the System Failed Him - Part 1

In August 1987, Riverside, Illinois Police Officer Tom Weitzel stepped out of his squad car to check a suspicious vehicle parked on the wrong side of the street - no plates, dark tinted windows, door cracked open. Seconds later, a gang member rolled out of the back seat, racked a pump shotgun, and shot Tom at point-blank range.

Tom’s portable radio was cut in half by the blast. He crawled back to his squad, called for help on the in-car radio, and survived... largely because of a bullet-resistant vest his wife had purchased.

But what happened after the shooting would shape the rest of his career: the investigation, the shocking legal loopholes of the time, and the early signs of a system that often fails the very people it asks to run toward danger.

This is Part 1 of Tom Weitzel’s story. Part 2 picks up with the fight for justice and the advocacy Tom took all the way to state lawmakers.

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