SIU employee charged with Child pornography | PG. 2
THE DAILY EGYPTIAN SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916
WWW.DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2019
VOL. 102, ISSUE 85
Victim, bystanders speak out after Carbondale shooting Brian Munoz | @BrianMMunoz
Brian Munoz | @BrianMMunoz Skyler Cantrell, 21, a senior studying aviation management from Altona, poses for a portrait on Tuesday outside of ABC Liquor Mart in Carbondale. Cantrell, an Altona volunteer firefighter, was on the scene of a four person shooting late last Friday night.
‘There was blood everywhere’ Student recounts attempt to help shooting victim Brian Munoz | @BrianMMunoz
Skyler Cantrell said he had his hands on the bleeding stomach of a man who had been shot when he heard someone screaming behind him. “Get on the fucking ground! Get on the fucking ground!” Cantrell said he didn’t know what was going on and was only focused on helping the gunshot victim. Cantrell and a friend had been at ABC Liquor Mart when someone ripped open the drive-through window and yelled someone had been shot. He asked to be let out of the store to help the man but but when he asked someone to go with him, he had the door closed and locked behind him. “Cool, guess I’m going into this by myself,” Cantrell told himself. He said he ran out to the alley and found a red SUV with the windows shot out. “There was glass all over the place,” Cantrell said. “I opened the door and
there was just blood everywhere.” Cantrell said he found a man slumped over, hands clasping his stomach when the man began coughing up blood. He immediately slides into the car and begins putting pressure on his stomach. The victim was one of four people shot outside of the liquor store on Friday night, according to a Carbondale Police press release. Sgt. Doug Wilson, Carbondale Police spokesman, said the department's priority is saving lives and that takes precedence over everything else. “Until we can figure out the details, it is very difficult for us to know that anybody is an off-duty first responder, police officer or whatever the situation might be,” Wilson said. Cantrell said he pulled his hands off of the bleeding victim, put his hands up and slowly went facedown on the glass- and blood-covered ground. “I look up and the cop is standing there, 2 or 3 feet away from me, with
an M4 pointed at me,” Cantrell said. “He screams at me and asks ‘What the fuck is going on?!’” Cantrell said he attempted to explain he was a first responder trying to help an injured man. “That’s when I genuinely feared for my life,” Cantrell said. “Cops are supposed to be there to protect us.” At that moment, Cantrell said he started praying and believed he was going to get shot. Shortly after, he said the officer walked away from him. When he looked up he saw the officers pulling the man out of the vehicle and the shooting victim began screaming. Another officer went up to him and asked him the same series of questions. When Cantrell asked to show his ID, he was allowed to do so as this officer pointed his gun at him. “The whole time, this dude’s bleeding out on the ground and [then the officer] asked me to go away,” Cantrell said. Please see CANTRELL | 2
CARBONDALE – John Diamond said he was drinking with acquaintances on Friday night when the sound reminiscent of firecrackers boomed through the air and chaos ensued – he was hit. A stray bullet hit Diamond in his buttocks as he was standing up from a chair on the patio of Tres Hombres Mexican Restaurant and Bar. “I wasn’t there even ten minutes,” Diamond said. “It was like you lit a big string of fireworks and it was all going off at once.” Diamond, a 71-year-old Army veteran who lives in Carbondale, was one of four people shot during the incident and said he was still attempting to get over a 2014 car accident which left him barely able to walk. Doctors have not yet removed the bullet, which he said he believes is lodged in his tailbone. “I’m basically going to have to learn how to walk for a third time because of the bullet in my ass,” Diamond said. “Yesterday, I couldn’t walk or get my leg to the floor. It was a little better last night when I tried and I’ll try again tonight.” Diamond adjusts monitors attached to his body as the local news plays in the background; fresh wildflowers sit on a bedside table along with balloons and a myriad of drinks. He said one of the most difficult things about being in the hospital is not being able to eat solid food.He said he already owns a cane, a wheelchair and two walkers, “putting him ahead of the game” but doesn’t let incidents such as this one get to him. “It happens,” Diamond said. “I just happened to be at the right place at the wrong time.” He said situations such as this one could happen anywhere – from Chicago to Atlanta – and the incident shouldn’t make people afraid of the area. “Don’t worry about it, I’m the only one that should be afraid and I’m not,” Diamond said. “As soon as I can, I’ll be right back out there in the biergarten having a drink.” Tim Trocke, senior studying hospitality and tourism management from Wauconda, said he was at the restaurant with his girlfriend, Nadia, when she went to the bathroom and heard gunshots. “She heard what sounded like six or seven gunshots and then someone next to her said ‘I think that was a paintball gun,” Trocke said. “Everyone was just running into chaos.” Please see SHOOTING | 3