Oak Park Det. Allan Reddins will be honored at a ceremony in Springfield honoring the memory of nine Illinois law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty over the last year.
Reddins was shot to death while responding to reports of an armed person in downtown Oak Park last November. A Chicago man, Jerrell Thomas, 37, is facing a life sentence for 56 felony counts, including first-degree murder, in connection with the fatal shooting.
Reddins was the first Oak Park police officer killed in the line of duty since 1938.
The ceremony was organized by the Illinois Police Memorial Committee, which works to honor every officer in the state who’s died in the line of duty each year. The group said it has organized a ceremony every year on the first Thursday of May since 1985.
The first part of the memorial will be held at the Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception in Springfield at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 1. A second ceremony, a little less than a mile from the cathedral at the Illinois State Capitol Building’s Illinois Police Memorial, will follow the interfaith ceremony. Each of the fallen officers’ names are engraved on the memorial, according to the group.
Reddins was sworn in to serve on the Oak Park police force in 2019 and had worked for the department as a detective since 2022. He is survived by his son, Jayden, who is an honor student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, his mother and his siblings.
Several Oak Park Police Department leaders will be present for the ceremony, including Police Chief Shatonya Johnson, Deputy Chiefs Dave Jacobson and Roderick Robinson and Sergeant Samantha Deuchler.
“As we have said since the tragedy occurred last November, we will never forget Det. Allan Reddins and what he meant not only to our department, but to all of Oak Park,” Johnson said. “He made the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life for this community. We look forward to gathering at the ceremony with our peers from around Illinois as we continue to remember and honor Allan and all those we have sadly lost in the line of duty. The memory of those sacrifices is something that we will all carry forward forever.”