Armed Harvard man shot by sheriff’s deputies remains hospitalized

The armed man shot by McHenry County sheriff’s deputies nearly two weeks ago during a well-being visit at his Harvard home is alive and hospitalized in Wisconsin, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said Wednesday.

The three McHenry County sheriff’s deputies involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, McHenry County sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Ellis said in an email.

This action is per department police, Ellis said Tuesday.

The deputies involved in the April 1 incident have served the department for seven months, six years and 16 years, Ellis said.

Few details are being made public while the shooting is under investigation by McHenry County Major Investigation Assistance Team, with the sheriff’s office declining last week to provide an update on the condition of the man shot.

Cary Police Chief Patrick Finlon, who is also the secretary and temporary head of MIAT, declined to comment Wednesday.

Deputies were dispatched about 8 p.m. April 1 to the 19900 block of Streit Road, according to a news release released by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office on MIAT’s behalf the following day. When police arrived, the man came out of the residence with a firearm and “an armed confrontation occurred,” according to the release.

“The deputies discharged their firearms, ultimately striking the subject. No deputies were injured during the confrontation,” according to the release.

The man was taken by the Harvard Fire Protection District to Mercy Harvard Hospital and then flown to Javon Bea Hospital in Rockford in critical condition, the agency said in the statement.

He was subsequently moved to a hospital in Wisconsin, Kenneally said, declining to comment further.

The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office will ultimately decide whether the shooting was justified and whether charges are warranted against anyone involved.

This is the second time this year that deputies with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office have shot someone. In January, Nicholas D. Sebastian, 43, of Port Barrington, was fatally shot by deputies. That shooting also remains under investigation as of Wednesday.