Chicago man sued over Bolingbrook WeatherTech fatal shooting

A lawsuit has been filed against a Chicago man charged with the Bolingbrook WeatherTech shooting last year that led to death of a 37-year-old man and left two other men with gunshot wounds.

On Tuesday, Felicia Washington filed a lawsuit against Charles McKnight, 28, that accused him of wrongfully killing Central Hightower, 37, of Plainfield on June 25, 2022, at the WeatherTech facility that’s between Remington Boulevard and WeatherTech Way in Bolingbrook.

Two others wounded in the shooting were Curtis Moore, 25, and Elvis Thomas, 43.

Hightower and Washington share a daughter. Washington was appointed the administrator of Hightower’s estate June 20, court records show.

McKnight has been charged with the first-degree murder of Hightower and the attempted murder of Moore and Thomas.

Washington’s lawsuit alleges that McKnight shot Hightower “without lawful justification, resulting in physical harm” to him.

McKnight is being sued under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act and Survival Act.

McKnight has remained in the Will County jail on a $5 million bond.

So far, Judge Carmen Goodman granted a defense request to appoint Karl Reich as the forensics expert to observe the “testing and consumption” of evidence in the case by the Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Services.

Will County will cover the $2,500 retainer fee for Reich because McKnight is considered an indigent defendant who lacks the means to pay for it himself.

At a bond hearing last year, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Wilkes said the state’s evidence at the time would show that multiple witnesses identified McKnight as the man who fatally shot Hightower and wounded Moore and Thomas.

Hightower and Moore were working Saturday when they were involved in an altercation with McKnight in a bathroom inside the WeatherTech facility, Wilkes said.

Hightower and Moore reported to other WeatherTech staff that McKnight stole a watch belonging to Moore and he had a gun, Wilkes said.

Wilkes said that after Hightower and Moore reported the robbery, McKnight walked up to them, pulled out a handgun and shot Hightower at a close distance.

Moore ran, and McKnight gave chase and fired shots at Moore, Wilkes said. One of those shots hit Thomas, Wilkes said.

After the shooting, officers caught McKnight, who was found hiding in a pine tree in a backyard in the 500 block of Larkespur Lane in Bolingbrook, Wilkes said. The area is a short distance away from WeatherTech.

Officers recovered the watch believed to have been stolen, Wilkes said.