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Old Irving Park Music School To Reopen After Teen Intern Rylan Wilder Was Mistakenly Shot By Police

CHICAGO (CBS) -- UpBeat Music and Arts will reopen on Monday, nearly two weeks after 15-year-old intern Rylan Wilder was accidentally shot by Des Plaines police officers chasing a bank robber.

Rylan was interning at the music school in the Old Irving Park neighborhood on Nov. 19, when Des Plaines officers chased a bank robber inside.

The robber, 32-year-old Christopher Terrell Willis, was shot and killed, and Rylan was wounded when police opened fire on the bank robber.

The school has been closed ever since, but will reopen Monday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Rylan Wilder
Rylan Wilder, 15, was accidentally shot by Des Plaines police in a music school in Old Irvign Park. (Credit: Wilder Family)

Rylan remains in the hospital after multiple surgeries on his arm and stomach. His left hand and arm were badly injured.

His family has confirmed some of the arteries in the arm are gone, and a metal rod was surgically implanted in his wrist. His mother has said Rylan still does not have feeling in certain fingers, and it's unclear if he'll recover from that.

Some have wondered whether the Lane Tech student will be able to play guitar again, but his friends have said he's determined to make a full recovery.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to support the surgeries he needs. As of Monday morning, they had raised more than $58,000.

Over the weekend, his friends raised another $3,500 for his medical bills at a benefit concert at Martyrs' in North Center. His band, Monarch Over Monday, had been scheduled to perform a show there on Saturday, but with them unable to play while he's in the hospital, three other bands teamed up to help his family pay his medical bills.

Meantime, Rylan's family has filed a lawsuit against 32-year-old Maurice Murphy, who has been charged with acting as Willis' accomplice in the bank robbery that prompted the chase and shooting on Nov. 19. The family is seeking to preserve any surveillance video that can be found in the music studio to find out what happened during the incident.

Attorney Timothy Cavanagh said Rylan's family has received conflicting reports on the shooting, and are seeking facts and transparency from police. The family also plans to ask for all audio communication between police during the chase, as well as all police body camera and dashboard camera footage.

The family has not ruled out adding police to the lawsuit, depending on evidence they receive.

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