A police officer from Normal says his worst day on the job turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Officer Evan Easter was one of three officers to pursue an armed suspect in 2021 in the Landings subdivision. He fired shots at Ronald Reiner, the 66-year-old shooter, who was killed during the incident along with two others. Three additional people were injured during Reiner’s shooting spree.
Investigations by Illinois State Police and the McLean County State’s Attorney’s Office determined the lethal shots fired by police were justified. State’s Attorney Don Knapp called the officers’ actions “heroic,” saving others from being hurt by Reiner, who appeared to be shooting at people indiscriminately in the mobile home park where he lived. What they don’t know is why Reiner picked up his handgun in the first place.
Easter, a 23-year veteran with the Normal Police, characterizes the shooting as the “best worst day” of his life. He had been struggling, which was placing strain on his relationships with his wife and kids.
“I was in a really, really, really dark place before that,” said Easter, who spoke to WGLT in his capacity as a private citizen, not on behalf of the Normal Police Department. “But I also believed that I had been through so much up until that point that I was capable of handling myself in the appropriate way. A lot of people, obviously, run from danger. That day I had to literally run towards someone who was trying to take my life.”
Once it was clear Reiner was no longer a threat, other officers stayed with him as Easter fanned out to assist with the victims.
“Once it was all over and I knew I was safe I had this wild rush of, like back to reality,” he said.
Easter described a kind of autopilot in which adrenaline and training kick in. It’s afterward that officers go through a range of experiences.
“It’s such a rare incident that everybody is different,” he said.
According to FBI data, sworn law enforcement officers are approximately 0.24% of the U.S. population. Data tracked by the Washington Post estimated at least 1,055 people were shot and killed by police in 2021, about 2% of the total number of people killed by guns in the United States that year.
“There are people that go through that that never come back to this job,” Easter said. “And then there are people like myself who have found a way to use it to be more resilient.”
Learning to ask for help
The department-mandated therapy that goes along with an officer firing their weapon was what Easter said he needed to begin to heal. It also catalyzed The Fractured Mind, a public speaking platform he launched to share his experiences with others.
“I couldn’t be a stronger version of the person that I am today,” Easter said. “And I that’s why I have the opportunity to go speak with people and I get to do this.”
Easter is still on the job—he has about a year-and-a-half before he’ll be eligible for retirement—but in his off time, he visits conferences and hosts classes on working through stressful situations, coping with trauma and asking for help, what he calls “using your radio.” That includes people in law enforcement, but also people in other high-pressure professions. In June, Easter launched an offshoot of The Fractured Mind called Locker Room Resilience, designed to support competitive athletes, who he says have a lot in common with police officers.
“There’s putting the uniform on and taking the uniform off, the pressure of performance. There is the teamwork that’s involved. It’s being the best person, being the teammate, learning how to ask for help,” he said. “Are you showing up? Are you the best person? Have you done the work? The similarities are just unbelievable.”
Easter also notes the pressure that goes with along with being expected to set a positive example, especially for the “superstar” college athletes who are expected to perform on and off the court or field.
“You can’t be broken because all these people look up to you,” he said. “But then you start to falter, you start to fall, you’re not the best version of yourself. You realize people see that you’re breaking and it’s a vicious spiral when all you had to do was ask for help.”
Sharing his worst day on the job over and over again at speaking events, along with other stories of high-pressure moments throughout his career, isn’t risk free. Easter said some police officers never fully recover from killing someone in the line of duty.
“There are people who have been through it that come back to the job, but they’re just not the same person anymore,” he said. “There’s a scar that inhibits them from doing certain things or maybe finding joy or finding happiness along the way.”
Before Easter spoke at the 2025 Crisis Intervention Team conference in California [a gathering of law enforcement, mental health and addiction professionals], he found a note his wife had placed in one of his shoes.
“I was wearing flip-flops before I went on stage,” he said. “I grabbed the shoes and there’s a note in there. It says in the first paragraph, ‘I just wish you didn’t have all those scars, but because you do is why you get the opportunity to go tell your story.’”
It’s gotten easier to tell that story over time, he said.
“I’ve been through so much therapy at this point,” he said. “Which fine, it’s great, I love it! I mean, it saved my life. It gave my kids their dad back. It gave my wife her husband back. I’ve become strong enough and I’ve told it and kind of processed it enough. …I think it’s neat that I use every one of those stories and apply a life lesson for people to walk away with.”
