95 Year Old Man in Senior Care Facility Shot 5 Times by Police with Bean Bags Resulting in his Death

Health Impact News Editor Comments:

Thanks to reporter John Kass of the Chicago Tribune, the story of John Wrana’s death at the hands of Park Forest, Illinois police is not dying without answers to questions as to why a 95-year-old man, who needed a walker to get around, was tasered and shot by police in riot gear resulting in his death.

John Kass is reporting that although an investigation is still pending more than 6 months after John Wrana’s death, due apparently to public pressure that is being applied mainly through Kass at the Chicago Tribune, Kass has now received a copy of the report which reveals Mr. Wrana, a World War II veteran, was shot 5 times by rounds of bean bags from a shot gun, which resulted in his death.

We have covered this story here at Health Impact News since it was reported back in July of 2013. You can read many of the details here: 95 Year Old WWII Vet Refuses to go to Hospital for Urinary Tract Infection, so Police Shoot and Kill Him.

John Wrana was suffering from a urinary tract infection and refused medical treatment, not wanting to go to the hospital. The police report states that Mr. Wrana was “brandishing a knife with a 7-inch blade,” something other residents and staff dispute, stating they had never seen this.

When Mr. Wrana refused to cooperate with the police in his managed care facility, inside his own room, they tasered him. He still did not cooperate, so they shot him 5 times with bean bag rounds, fired at close range from a shot gun. He died of internal injuries shortly after that.

According to the latest news that Kass is reporting, in the police report the reason that police state they had to shoot Mr. Wrana was that “they were afraid for their lives.” There were apparently at least 4 officers, and one officer had a riot shield and Taser. As Kass reports:

Why was the trigger pulled so many times on the night of July 26, 2013? Police told state investigators they were afraid for their lives and the lives of others. Yet Wrana, who was just weeks shy of his 96th birthday, was a mere 5 feet 5 inches tall.

The staff at the facility, Victory Centre, called police after Wrana began suffering from delusions, even claiming to be a relative of President Barack Obama. The staff noted that delusions can be a symptom of urinary tract infections in the elderly.

Yet when the police arrived to take him to the hospital for an evaluation, they felt compelled to subdue the old man with great force “due to Wrana’s threats to blow up Victory Centre and slit the throats of everyone at Victory Centre.”

While Wrana had a knife and cane, there is nothing in the report about any explosives. What would he blow it up with, a bedpan?

You can read the full report here: Cop shot at veteran John Wrana 5 times with beanbag rounds: What unreleased document says is both riveting and disturbing

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