Rylan Wilder, 15, was helping to clean up his music school before closing when an armed bank robbery suspect fleeing police ran into the school. A police officer pursuing the suspect shot and killed the armed man but accidentally shot Rylan in the arm.
A teenager cleaning instruments at a music school was accidentally shot in the arm by a police officer when an armed suspected bank robber ran into the school.
Rylan Wilder, a 15-year-old intern at the music school in Chicago, was cleaning up as the school was closing for the day.
Video shows people in the school looking to the front door as police cars with sirens blared and Rylan was taking out the trash.
Suddenly an armed bank robbery suspect fleeing police ran into the school. A police officer running behind him opened fire. As Rylan was running out of the way, he was accidentally shot in the arm. Another video angle shows Rylan running into a room, wounded, where students were hiding.
Police shot and killed the armed suspect.
Rylan tells Inside Edition a bullet went through his left arm near his elbow.
Rylan’s mother, Lucia, says she will never forget that day.
“When my husband called me and said that Rylan had been shot and that he was in an ambulance, I thought my child was going to die in that moment,” Lucia says.
Rylan survived being shot, but his injuries were so severe, he wondered if his dream of one day playing guitar professionally was gone forever.
After 18 operations, Rylan learned how to play guitar in a new way.
The teen’s family’s lawsuit against the Des Plaines Police Department claimed “reckless” and “excessive” behavior. The department settled for $1.9 million.
“I’ve watched the video. The officer going into the school following the criminal, who I had seen run past my son, you know, and just start shooting,” Lucia says.
In a statement police say, “This settlement does not reflect the heroic actions the officer took that day, putting his life at risk to save others.”
Rylan is now studying music at Chicago’s Columbia College, moving forward with his dream of becoming a professional musician.
