(CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS) – The Illinois State Police trooper who fatally shot an unarmed woman who was driving a stolen car will not face criminal charges.
St. Clair County State’s Attorney James Gomric met last week with the family of Rachel Tarrence, who was shot while in her car in the drive-thru of an East St. Louis liquor store on Jan. 4, to inform them of his decision.
In a letter of declination to the Illinois State Police, Gomric identified the trooper as Gary Blake Novack, who joined the ISP on Oct. 8, 2022. He has been a certified police officer since 2018, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board.
Novack fired three shots at Tarrence, who was not armed, striking her twice. She died several hours later at a St. Louis hospital.
The ISP’s Division of Internal Investigation completed its investigation in mid-February and turned it over to Gomric’s office to determine whether Novack’s use of force was lawful. The ISP’s Division of Internal Investigation reviews all officer-involved shootings by State Police personnel, according to ISP policy.
A thorough evaluation of the shooting included “a detailed review of more than 40 hours of audio/video encompassing radio traffic, dash cam, body cam, surveillance and witness interviews. Where video footage depicted the same moment in time from different angles, the videos were viewed individually and overlapped with one another for maximum clarity of the events in terms of time and space. In addition to the digital media, my officer reviewed the reports and documents submitted by the Illinois State Police Division of Internal Investigation,” according to Gomric’s letter.
Multiple senior prosecutors, including Gomric, reviewed the materials and decided not to file charges against Novack, according to the July 16 letter and obtained by Capitol News Illinois.
Novack, who had previously been unidentified by ISP due to union contract constraints, was named in Gomric’s news release and letter to ISP. The letter also identifies a front-seat passenger as Mack Buford, who had previously been unidentified.
Novack worked for the Collinsville Police Department from 2018-22. During his tenure with Collinsville, he was named in two lawsuits — one in Madison County and another in federal court — that alleged he used excessive force against two men during their arrests.
Both men claimed Novack pulled them from their vehicles and body slammed them to the pavement. One incident occurred on May 24, 2020, the other on July 10, 2020. Both cases were dismissed. On Monday, it was unclear whether there was a financial settlement in either case.
How the shooting unfolded
On the morning of the shooting, Tarrence took her mother’s car after her mother refused to allow her to take a friend home to Trenton, some 30 miles away. Tarrence, a 40-year-old mother of three, loaded her 4-year-old son, grabbed her mother’s keys and left. Her mother reported the car stolen to Maryville police at 12:30 p.m., police said.
An ISP trooper later asked dispatch to run the license plate of the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox. The check confirmed the car had been reported stolen.
The trooper called for a felony traffic stop at 8:08 p.m., according to Gomric’s letter. Within seconds, Tarrence’s car was surrounded by four ISP vehicles at the Rainbow Liquor Mart drive-thru lane on State Street.
With Novack’s squad blocking the exit, Tarrence put the car in reverse and hit an ISP squad car parked behind her, the videos showed. Troopers emerged from their cars and began shouting orders.
“While officers are giving commands to the occupants of the (Tarrence’s) vehicle, the Equinox moves forward in the direction of Trooper Novack before coming to a stop,” Gomric’s letter to ISP stated.
Tarrence disregarded commands to put the car in park, as instructed by one trooper, according to the letter, and the engine can be heard revving up before the vehicle moves forward again. Novack fired three shots through the windshield, striking Tarrence twice in the chest.
Buford and Tarrence’s son were not injured.
Tarrence had a history of mental illness, substance abuse, running from police and taking or keeping vehicles without permission, but Troy Walton, the attorney for her family, maintained the shooting was unnecessary. Walton said he anticipated Novack would be named in a civil case.
“This is an officer that has a history of excessive force. We don’t agree with the state’s attorney’s decision not to charge him criminally, but it’s not the end of this,” Walton said Monday. “A jury of 12 of his peers will decide if his use of force was excessive.”
Novack emerged from the car with his gun drawn and moved toward the front quarter panel of Tarrence’s car, then stepped to the side and back as he fired three shots, according to dash, body cam and surveillance videos released by ISP that captured the shooting. He does not appear to be in the path of the vehicle.
An expert on police procedures said Tarrence’s car was improperly pinned, allowing the car to move. He also noted troopers shouted conflicting commands and failed to try to deescalate the situation.
A meeting to inform the family of this decision had previously been set for July 1 but had been postponed until July 16 at the family’s request, according to Gomric’s office.
Though Gomric’s office took six months to issue a decision on whether or not to file criminal charges, it isn’t unusual for such decisions to take months, even years in some cases, according to a Capitol News Illinois review of police shootings. The decision to file charges in cases of officer-involved shootings is rare.
“My review suggests ISP Division of Internal Investigation has, to date, pursued all reasonable avenues that could produce relevant evidence,” Gomric’s letter stated. “Accordingly, I consider this matter closed.”
Novack has been on restricted duty since the Jan. 4 shooting. He will remain in that status until another investigation into whether he violated ISP policy or rules of conduct is completed.
In May 2025, Novack was on the scene when Fairview Heights officers Hannah Muennich and Herminio “Tony” Raimundi were shot. He applied a tourniquet to Raimundi, according to reports. He also carried Muennich to the ambulance as she was transported to St. Louis hospital.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
