Illinois State Police release video of trooper fatally shooting Maryville woman
Illinois State Police on Friday released video footage from multiple angles showing a trooper fatally shooting a 40-year-old Maryville woman who was driving a vehicle in the drive-thru lane of an East St. Louis liquor store on Jan. 4.
Rachel E. Tarrence died at a hospital shortly after the shooting at the OG Super Rainbow Liquor Store, 4510 State St., in East St. Louis.
The state police video, which is 8 minutes and 41 seconds long, includes body camera and dashboard camera footage from the four troopers who pulled over Tarrence.
Troy E. Walton, an Edwardsville attorney representing Tarrence’s family, was shown the video before it was released to the public. In a statement, he described the shooting as “an absolutely unnecessary and unjustified use of deadly force.”
“The death of Rachel Tarrence is a tragedy,” Walton said in the statement. “It is yet another example of a senseless and avoidable death at the hands of law enforcement.”
In an interview after the video was made public, Walton said the trooper who shot Tarrence was not in danger and that troopers did not take steps to “deescalate” the incident.
State police said in a news release that troopers were investigating reports of a stolen vehicle at about 10:08 p.m. Jan. 4 in the 4500 block of State Street in East St. Louis.
The video shows a Chevrolet Equinox with its left turn signal blinking as it pulls into the liquor store, followed by four troopers.
After Tarrence comes to a stop, she puts the Equinox in reverse and strikes a police car. A trooper can be heard shouting, “Show your (expletive) hands.”
“Troopers outside of their vehicles gave commands for Tarrence to show her hands and put the vehicle in park,” the news release states. “Tarrence did not comply and instead drove forward.”
The video then shows a trooper, who had exited his squad car and was standing in the parking lot, firing gunshots at Tarrence from an angle in front of her vehicle.
“The time from the squad car being struck to shots being fired is estimated to be eight seconds,” according to the news release.
Surveillance video from the liquor store’s security system is also included in the police video.
Said Mohamed, a manager at the OG Super Rainbow Liquor Store, was working the night of the shooting and said he witnessed the event unfold on the security monitor by the cash register. Mohamed said he heard three or four gunshots.
A portion of store video not included in the police footage, but shown to the Belleville News-Democrat by Mohamed, shows a trooper carrying a young child from the back seat of the Equinox after the shooting. An adult male also exits the vehicle. Mohamed said the child is Tarrence’s son and that Tarrence was a regular customer.
Mohamed said the vehicle was “blocked off” by police cars behind and to the side, and that she could not drive forward due to a drop-off of several feet from the parking lot. A retaining wall runs along the back of the lot to a lower area that Mohamed described as a “ditch.” A guardrail that previously protected the area was knocked down last winter, he said.
Tarrence visited the store “all the time” and would have known she could not escape by driving straight from the drive-thru window, Mohamed said.
“They didn’t even give her a chance to get out of the car,” Mohamed said. He also said police officers need more training.
No other people were injured in the crash or shooting, aside from Tarrence.
The trooper who fired the shots has been placed on administrative leave. His name has not been released.
State police said the shooting remains under investigation. When the probe is complete, findings will be submitted to the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“As part of its investigation, ISP is identifying any and all possible violations of ISP policy, rules of conduct, and training standards,” the agency’s news release said.
The Belleville News-Democrat filed a Freedom of Information Act request with ISP on Jan. 5 seeking the video, but the request was denied Jan. 16, with the agency citing the ongoing investigation.
On Friday, the agency said the video was released “in accordance with ISP’s commitment to integrity and public transparency.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2026 at 5:12 PM.
