A DANVILLE, ILLINOIS CITY OFFICIAL WAS FORCED TO RUN FOR HIS LIFE AFTER BEING CHASED AND SHOT AT DURING A FAMILY FISHING TRIP IN PARIS, ILLINOIS. (PHOTO).

 A Danville, Illinois City Official was forced to run for his life after being chased and shot at during a family fishing trip in Paris, Illinois. 

Mr. Jones did an interview with The Vermilion Times with Kaighla White interviewing him. I have spoken to Mr. Jones who will be doing an interview with me after charges are filed. I also spoke to Miss White. All information is from a videotaped interview as well as following interviews with Miss White and after speaking with Mr. Jones. We do appreciate the Vermilion Times taking the time to allow Alderman Jones to tell his story and we are hoping the other individuals will be named so we can speak to them as well. They have not come forward publicly. The officials definitely know their names but have not released them yet. 

Danville, Illinois Alderman (ward 1), Jaleel Jones, had family travel down from up north to Danville for a visit. The pair planned a fishing trip. Mr. Jones and his two cousins like to fish together and often take part in a friendly competition to see who catches the first, biggest and/or best fish during the year. 

Mr. Jones went fishing on Good Friday at the White Oaks Park fishing area in Paris, Illinois with his two cousins. This is a popular fishing area. Mr. Jones and his family decided to go cat fishing and they arrived at the fishing area a little after 10:30 p.m. At 10:58 p.m. they had their first catch of the year. They videotaped the large catfish and put it on the stringer. 

The trio continued to fish and visit. At 11:27 p.m. his cousin called his father to tell him about the fishing trip. At this same time, a white Dodge Ram truck pulled up with three males in the truck. Mr. Jones noted that they thought nothing of it, of course, and when the three men exited the truck visibly intoxicated while holding Busch light cans of beer, he figured the men were just wanting to talk about fishing. 

Mr. Jones noted that the men were using the N word a lot but he stated that he doesn't think too much of that. However, they were using it so frequently, it kind of "threw him off" because this doesn't happen to him. He remained friendly, noting the intoxicated men were not (yet) using the "hard r" at the end, and he has no problem with it. 

The men reportedly told Mr Jones's cousin that they had just left the bar and then they asked what the men had caught. Mr. Jones answered the men and told them they caught a nice catfish. 

Suddenly, all three men surrounded Mr. Jones making him uncomfortable but he said he didn't want to make any assumptions so he remained friendly. Mr. Jones stated they got in his face and asked him what he caught again. He found this odd, but he answered them and said again that they had caught a nice catfish. 

The men remained surrounding Mr. Jones and asked him what the three men were doing. Mr. Jones answered them and told them that they were "just fishing" and the men responded they were fishing too. Mr. Jones felt uneasy but didn't want to escalate anything. He said that they were surrounding him in a way where they were sizing him up but he wanted to keep everything light. He asked them where their poles were thinking they might be in the water somewhere and he did not see them. One man responded that their poles were in the truck. 

Mr. Jones said he just kept up a light conversation about fishing but the three men were not interested in that. They said they were going to throw seven poles in over Mr. Jones and his cousins. Mr. Jones stated that since the men didn't have any poles out and they weren't really making any attempt to fish he really had nothing else to say to them so he cast another pole into the water and continued to fish when the men surrounded his cousin, sizing him up. He said that at this point they definitely felt defensive but they were hoping the men were just drunk and being foolish. He hoped if he and his cousins continued to quietly fish, the men would go away. 

Instead, the men got into each man's face one at a time, surrounding them; one at a time. When they surrounded Mr. Jones's cousin who is a muscular guy, they asked him, "if he had been in the joint" which, of course, means prison. Mr. Jones and his cousins kept things polite by smiling and using light laughter. The muscular man told them that he had never done time in the joint. Mr. Jones and his other cousin reassured the three men that none of them had "been in the joint".  Mr. Jones hoped that their politeness and the fact they did not get angry at being surrounded and being asked questions about prison might make the three men less confrontational. The men continued to surround the man and said that they didn't believe him and they thought he had to have been in the joint because he was a "big one". 

When this did not elicit a response from Mr. Jones or his cousins, the three men started calling the men the n-word with a hard r. They asked several times if Mr. Jones or his cousins "had a problem with them saying the n-word". Mr. Jones and his cousins felt a definite shift and they remained quiet. One of the men hopped on the hood of the truck and crossed his arms, and according to Jones and his cousins, the man appeared to be "waiting for something to happen". 

The fishing trio did not respond and continued to fish. 

Mr. Jones shared that one of the men said that they needed to know how to act while they (he and his cousins) were in their (the three males) territory.

Mr. Jones said the men were acting agitated at this point so he responded, "We are just fishing. we are not here to cause any problems or to start anything, we just came out here to fish."

According to Mr. Jones, the man sitting on the truck did not like his answer for some reason. He said the man jumped off the hood of the truck and grabbed a shotgun from the truck. He immediately shot the shotgun in the air. 

This is when Mr. Jones becomes visibly upset in the interview. He stated that the man then racked the shotgun and put it up to his cousin's head like he was going to take his life. The men were very scared for their lives at this point. 

His cousin has a concealed carry just like Mr. Jones has a concealed carry. Mr. Jones did not have his firearm on him at the time as he didn't believe he would need it to go fishing. His cousin did have his firearm on him but Mr Jones did not know that. 

Mr. Jones was in shock that they were holding his cousin at gunpoint. He was standing near his cousin's car so he tried to creep around the car and open the car door to get his cousin's gun. He was still hoping that they were just trying to scare the three men but he knew that things had gotten serious once the gun was held to his cousin's head. 

The men saw Mr. Jones trying to get in the car and one of the men screamed for him to get "tf" away from the car or they were going to shoot his cousin. Mr. Jones held his hands in the air to show them that he was unarmed and he said "he wasn't trying to cause problems" and he "would back up away from the car, no problem".

Mr. Jones backed away from the car. The men told the three men that they "would pack up and leave immediately", that they "didn't want any problems" and they would leave immediately". 

While the cousins were pleading with the men to let them go, Mr. Jones made a secret call to 911. He told the 911 operator that there were three men trying to k*** him and his cousins. He told the dispatcher that he was at the twin lakes in the back. His cousin was still at gunpoint at this time. 

Mr. Jones was standing near the trunk of his cousin's car trying to hide the 911 call. One man noticed he was by the trunk and told him to get "the f***" away from the car. Mr. Jones said, "I told him that I didn't have any weapons". Jones was frantically trying to hang up the phone because he didn't want the man to see he had called 911. The man saw the phone in Jones's hand and he looked at it. It showed the call. 

The man said, "You called the ******* police?" Mr. Jones responded, "No, no, I didn't. I didn't."

Mr. Jones stated the man then yelled to the man with the shotgun, "Hey bro, bring that down here and blow this n****** head off." 

It was at this point that Mr. Jones started pleading with a man to tell him what was going on. He asked the man what the men were doing and what was going on. He kept saying "we weren't doing anything wrong what is going on?"

The man ignored his questions and told the other two men "this n***** done called the police."

The man with the shotgun left the cousin he was holding at gunpoint and walked towards Jones pointing the shotgun at him. Mr. Jones held both of his hands in front of himself to show he was unarmed and he kept repeating, "What's going on? What are y'all on about, what is going on?" 

The men got behind Mr. Jones while keeping the gun trained on him and the cousin that was nearby him still. The two men began running for cover. Mr. Jones stated that the fear and adrenaline just took over. As the men ran, the man with the shotgun shot at them 7 to 8 times. Mr. Jones thought he was hit because his leg kept giving out. He kept falling and having to get back up thinking he had been struck. He and his cousin met each other near cover and explained to each other they both thought they were hit. They were trying to look each other over for gunshots when they were shot at yet again. They heard two different shots this time. 

Mr. Jones said everything became quiet while he and his cousin were hiding behind houses. He called 911 again and explained that he thought his cousin might be deceased and that there were men trying to k*** him. The dispatcher asked where he was again and he explained and became frustrated because she was asking him to calm down but he was explaining he couldn't calm down. While still on the phone with 911, he heard the truck engine rev and the men were driving towards where he and his cousin were hiding. The men shot seven or eight more times towards the direction of Jones and his cousin. The men even looked in the trees and shot in the trees. This all happened during the 911 call. He did tell the dispatchers that he was a Danville Illinois city official. He believed he had given his location enough that they would come soon, especially after hearing the gunshots. He explained he was by the pavilion that is well known in the area at that fishing spot. 

Luckily, the men kept driving away and they did not locate Jones or his cousin. Mr. Jones saw his cousin's vehicle in the parking lot with the lights on and Mr. Jones was worried that it was one of the men from the truck so he began to flee again. His cousin yelled from the car that it was him in the car. Mr. Jones felt relieved. 

His cousin told him he was afraid that Mr. Jones and their other cousin were deceased because they were chased and shot at. Mr. Jones explained that he thought his cousin was deceased because they had to leave him behind to run. Mr. Jones's cousin said that he had actually shot at the three men when they were chasing Jones and the other cousin. The cousin stated that he heard one of the men say he thought he was hit. Mr. Jones cousin also reportedly made a 911 call that was brief as he also had to sneak it. 

The three men in the truck did not call 911 during the interaction. They demanded for the police not to be called.

Mr. Jones ended the call with 911 believing they had enough information to respond. He was distraught but happy to be alive. The men made sure they weren't hit and they quickly grabbed their poles and left the area. The three men had fled the area so they felt they had a few seconds to make sure they weren't hit. 

The Paris Illinois Police Department released a statement saying that they responded to several 911 calls on April 3rd before midnight and arrived at the pavilion, secured the scene where this shooting took place. Mr. Jones said they definitely did not come to the pavilion during the incident and he is confused on why they would go there because the men fled the scene. It is an ongoing investigation and we may find more information about that. 

Paris Police Department called the alderman's phone number at around 4:00 a.m., hours after the incident. They left a voicemail saying they wanted to make sure everyone was okay in Mr Jones's family that was involved in the shooting. 

Mr. Jones did speak to investigators and they reassured him that he and his cousins did nothing wrong and he is now waiting for the investigation to be completed so he can learn the men's names and what they will be charged with after this incident. 

Mr. Jones did learn that one of the three men were struck and had to be flown to a hospital. Mr. Jones said that although this was a senseless act he's glad the man did not pass away. 

The mayor of Danville, Rickey Williams Jr, stated on social media that he thanks the Lord that Mr. Jones and his relatives did not lose their lives and he hopes that they see Justice. 

Mr. Jones stated that the men reduced him to an animal. He felt like they were treating him like an animal and reduced him to the color of his skin, instead of a man just trying to fish and enjoy his evening. 

Deonta Brooks spoke up during a recent city council meeting and stated that sundown towns are sadly still a real thing. 

The Paris, Illinois most recent census shows that less than 1% of the population are black citizens with Danville, Illinois having a much higher population of 34%. 

We cannot reach out to the other parties as they have not come forward at all. The only thing we have heard is that they are denying there was a shotgun but Mr. Jones is not worried about that as investigators already know the truth and have seen the evidence. We will update this story when the investigation is completed. 

It still remains unclear how the individuals in the white truck came into contact with officers. The Vermilion Times has requested all 911 call logs and information and we will share those results as soon as possible.

The first photograph was taken by Vermilion County First. Jones is photographed at the city meeting where he confirmed the Paris Police department's press release was about April 3rd's incident.