Shot By Joliet Police In 2021, West Side Resident Attacks 4 St. Joe's ER Nurses: Police

JOLIET, IL — More than four years after Joliet police officer Brian Lanton shot Cord Whitmore in the chest at Whitmore's mother's house on Nicholson Street, the 34-year-old Joliet man now faces four new criminal charges of aggravated battery to a medical worker and one count of aggravated battery to a security officer. Joliet police say Whitmore attacked four emergency room nurses at the St. Joe's hospital in the middle of the night this week.

Tuesday's violent encounter happened around 1:50 a.m. at St. Joe's, police said.

According to Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English, officers responded to St. Joseph Medical Center for a disturbance involving a patient in the emergency room. The officers learned that Whitmore grew angry with four separate nurses, physically attacking as well as throwing food and feces at them, English said.

The arrest report noted that Whitmore also pushed a hospital security guard and threw a soft drink bottle at them. Officers learned that Whitmore had been previously transported to the hospital by ambulance for a mental health evaluation, English said. Whitmore was placed into custody without further incident.

Will County Jail records show that Whitmore was released on Wednesday. The Will County State's Attorney's Office has not filed a petition to seek Whitmore's detention in connection with this week's Joliet police arrest.

In 2021, Joliet Patch reported that the Will Grundy Major Crimes Task Force announced that veteran Joliet police officer Brian Lanton was justified in his shooting of 29-year-old Cordairel "Cord" Whitmore, who lives in the 1200 block of Nicholson Street.

Whitmore spent a few days recovering from his gunshot wounds at St. Joe's hospital before being booked into the Will County Jail. The Office of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow subsequently charged Whitmore with aggravated assault.

The non-fatal shooting happened around 10:20 a.m. Jan. 28 in Joliet's Cunningham neighborhood. Whitmore lives at the house with his mother, and she was not home at the time of the shooting, police said. Whitmore was shot three times by Lanton.

"As Cordairel M. Whitmore was speaking with Joliet Police Officer Brian Lanton on the front porch of the residence, the offender produced what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it at Officer Brian Lanton," Joliet Police said after the 2021 non-fatal shooting. "On January 28, 2021, while committing an assault, Cordairel Whitmore knowingly engaged in conduct which placed another, Joliet Police Officer Brian Lanton, in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery in that he displayed a BB gun knowing Brian Lanton to be a police officer performing his official duties.

"As a result, of Cordairel Whitmore being charged with the offense of Aggravated Assault, Joliet Police Officer Brian Lanton was justified in using deadly force when he discharged his firearm, striking Cordairel Whitmore.”