A man who exchanged gunfire with Hickory Hills police officers last week was a convicted sex offender, authorities said.
Johnathan Ollry, 42, died of a gunshot wound to the head after fleeing an attempted armed robbery at a Speedway gas station, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police believe Ollry shot himself during the chase, but the official cause of death is still under review.
The incident began around 8:45 p.m. May 29, when police responded to a report of an attempted armed robbery of a person in the Jewel-Osco parking lot at 95th Street and Roberts Road. It turned out to be an attempted car-jacking, said Hickory Hills Police Chief Adam Gulczynski.
When officers arrived on the scene, Ollry ran across Roberts Road toward the Speedway station.
Police confronted him in the Speedway parking lot, where he fired a handgun at them, according to Gulczynski. An officer returned fire.
The man ran north into an alley and fired at police again, Gulczynski said. As officers planned their next move, they heard a single gunshot near a pizzeria.
A short time later, they found Ollry with a gunshot wound to the head.
He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and later pronounced dead.
One officer suffered minor injuries and was treated and released.
The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force is leading the investigation. Gulczynski said his department is cooperating fully.
“They’re taking time off, as is protocol, and we’re making sure they have space to decompress,” he said.
According to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, Ollry was convicted of possessing child pornography involving a 13-year-old. He was required to register for life and, as of last year, listed an address in Southeast Chicago.
Illinois State Police said Ollry was in non-compliance and had not re-registered since April 2024.
He was sentenced to six years in prison in January 2022 in La Salle County on three counts of possessing child pornography. His address then was listed as Hickory Hills.
He was on probation when he was arrested after pleading guilty in La Salle County to felony domestic battery.
This is the first fatal police-involved shooting in Hickory Hills in more than a decade, Gulczynski said. “We did have a suicide by police back like 15 years ago,” he said.