In case of Dexter Reed, killed by cops in traffic stop, court filings detail struggle with mental health

Before Dexter Reed shot a Chicago police officer during a traffic stop and set off a gunfight that claimed his life, he was seriously wounded in another shooting more than two years earlier when he threatened to kill a family member while brandishing a knife, records show.

Police records indicate Reed was in the throes of a mental health crisis when he attacked his uncle in August 2021, leading his uncle to shoot him. Reed was left in a coma for weeks and struggled with his mental and physical health as he recovered.

Amid a series of lawsuits Reed filed after that shooting, he acknowledged that he suffered from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Details of the earlier shooting, which haven’t previously been reported, along with the lawsuits and Reed’s social media posts provide a clearer picture of a troubled life that ended in a hail of gunfire in Humboldt Park in March.

Andrew M. Stroth, the lawyer representing Reed’s family, wouldn’t discuss Reed’s mental health or the earlier incident, noting only that it was a “family matter” that had a lasting impact on Reed.

On the morning of Aug. 25, 2021, the uncle told police Reed “was acting weird” and “just didn’t seem right” when he came to the basement of a family home in Austin after spending the night. Reed then pulled a 6-inch kitchen knife from his pants and held it “in a menacing way,” according to a police report.

“I’m going to kill you,” Reed allegedly said as he approached his uncle with the knife in his right hand.

The uncle grabbed a gun and started yelling upstairs to his mother to call 911, the report states. His uncle’s mother, who was Reed’s grandmother, then came downstairs and tried to intervene but was pushed to the ground.

Reed then lunged at his uncle with the knife, and his uncle fired a single gunshot, according to the report. The uncle lost track of the gun during a subsequent struggle and ultimately ran inside a bedroom as Reed continued to threaten him and pulled on the doorknob.

While Reed was pulling the door open, his uncle grabbed another gun and fired multiple times as Reed entered the bedroom, the report states. Reed was shot once in his back and twice in his groin and was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital.

The uncle told police he didn’t want to press criminal charges but noted that Reed needed mental health treatment, according to the records. Reed’s grandmother said he had “mental problems but does not want to get checked out.”

Stroth said Reed was working to turn his life around after that shooting.

“Dexter Reed had a will to live,” Stroth said. “Dexter Reed was trying to eat healthy and exercise and play hoops, and he was getting his life back on track. And then this traumatic incident happened with the police.”

Reed’s death raises questions

That encounter with police began when Reed was stopped in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street on March 21 for a seat belt violation, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the oversight agency investigating the shooting. As Reed resisted orders to roll down his SUV’s windows and open the door, he shot a tactical officer in the hand, COPA said.

Four other officers returned fire, shooting 96 times in just 41 seconds, COPA said, while releasing jarring video footage of the shooting last week.

One of the officers fired “at least 50 times,” including three times as Reed lay “motionless on the ground,” COPA said. Reed had shot 11 times at police, and an empty gun was recovered at the scene, a law enforcement source said.

After the shootout, COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten urged Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to strip the four officers of their policing powers. In a letter to Snelling, Kersten questioned whether the officers lied about the reason for the stop and raised “grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force.”

In turn, Snelling criticized COPA for releasing the letter to news outlets and commenting on the circumstances of the shooting before interviewing the officers.

“Those who are putting that information out into the media are doing so irresponsibly,” he said.

‘Live by the gun, die by the gun’

In the years after Reed was shot by his uncle, he made his personal struggles well known on social media and in a slew of handwritten court filings. Once a standout basketball player, Reed was having a difficult time forging a new identity after his playing career ended.

He started a clothing brand, sold used sneakers, streamed video games online and released dozens of crudely recorded rap songs, some of which referenced gun violence. “Live by the gun, die by the gun,” he rapped in a song posted to YouTube Feb. 2 under the name “400 DLO.”

On Facebook, Reed’s posts alternated between braggadocious, hopeful, paranoid and dejected.

“I Hope I [ain’t] Become No Villain And I [ain’t] Saying I’m A Hero But As A Kid I Did Everything A Parent Can Ask For,” he wrote on the social media platform on April 7, 2023. “Go To School, Get Good Grades, Play Sports, Most Importantly SURVIVE.”

At the time Reed was shot and killed, he was facing four felony gun charges stemming from an arrest in July 2023 near the United Center. Officers caught him carrying a handgun as he was entering the Windy City Smokeout music festival, according to an arrest report.

Months earlier, he allegedly stole a $950 shirt from a downtown department store. A misdemeanor theft charge was quickly dropped, court records show.

Reed said he was ‘physically disabled and mentally unstable’

He also sought financial relief through the courts, filing at least five lawsuits between March and August of 2023. Many of the complaints were linked to the 2021 incident in which he was shot by his uncle.

Perhaps most notably, Reed sued Mount Sinai for $15 million, alleging the hospital botched his treatment after the shooting. Among other things, he claimed he was left blind in one eye, and the issue “wasn’t treated properly in a timely manner.”

The hospital declined to comment on the pending case.

On Jan. 29, Reed filed a rambling motion that detailed the range of health and personal issues he was facing, including post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. A hearing in the case was set for Thursday.

In other lawsuits, Reed claimed the Chicago Department of Finance had wrongfully towed and ticketed his car while he was hospitalized; that a college teammate had stolen money raised after he was wounded; and that he was wrongfully denied Social Security benefits while he was recovering. The cases have all been disposed.

“I’m physically disabled and mentally unstable with PTSD, short memory loss, slurd [sic] speech, drop foot in one of my legs, blindness in one eye, shoulder/arm hard to move, weakness and sensitivity,” he wrote in a filing dated Aug. 23, 2023. “With all these medical conditions, it has been hard for me to work and or do certain things.”

Reed also unsuccessfully sued the Illinois Department of Employment Security and his former employer, Monterrey Security, a clout-heavy firm with deep ties to the Chicago Police Department. While Reed admitted he was laid off before COVID-19 hit, he sought $20,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits he wasn’t able to collect.

Just a few weeks before he was killed, Reed acknowledged that he was overwhelmed but was trying to persevere.

“Sometimes I feel like giving up but I’m living for me,” he wrote Feb. 26 on Facebook.