Prosecutor: Cop Begged for Her Life Before Being Murdered

Two Illinois police officers responded to a report of dogs barking in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn in Bradley. It was a call that left Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic begging for her life before being killed with her own gun, say prosecutors, who are asking federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty for the pair suspected of killing her. NBC News has the grim story in the town about an hour south of Chicago. On Dec. 29, Rittmanic and Officer Tyler Bailey went to the hotel room where they believed the vehicle's owners were staying and spoke to them through the door. Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe says Darius Sullivan, 25, emerged from the room, shot Bailey in the head, and then shot Rittmanic as she tried to flee.

The AP reports Rittmanic's body camera captured what transpired. In Rowe's telling, Sullivan ran after her and pinned her against a door as he tried to both unjam his gun and take hers. Rowe alleges Xandria Harris, who'd also been in the hotel room, helped him obtain her weapon. The two then allegedly stood over Rittmanic as she lay on the ground begging them to spare her. "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," he added. Sullivan allegedly then fired two shots into Rittmanic's neck area, then fled. Harris, 26, is said to have returned to the room and collected two children who were there, as well as personal items, before leaving. Bailey, 27, is hospitalized and "fighting for his life."

Sullivan was apprehended Friday in Indiana and has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm. Harris turned herself in that same day and faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. While the state will seek life sentences, Rowe has asked the DOJ to take a look at the case with the aim of pursuing federal death-penalty charges. Illinois isn't a death penalty state, but Rowe cited "recent precedent" for pursuing the federal death penalty in the case of a cop's murder and in a "non-death penalty state."

(More police officer stories.)