08/28/2026
My Take: Yes, they will unalive you in front of the Police. Please stop leaving digital footprints 🙏🏾
The Story: The county’s top prosecutor found that Cortez White, 42, of St. Louis, “acted in a manner that left a Peoria Police Officer with no choice but to use deadly force” after White shot and killed Ashley Stenson.
Officers were called at 6:45 p.m. on May 8 to the intersection of Hamilton Boulevard and Northeast Madison Avenue in Downtown to a report of a domestic dispute, according to Hoos’ six-page report.
Family members of Stenson had called saying that White, Stenson’s ex-boyfriend, was going to kill her, Hoos said.
When an officer arrived, they found Stenson and White on the sidewalk near the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel. When the officer got out of the car, he asked if one of them was Ashley and if the other was Cortez, according to the report.
White then pulled out a gun, shot Stenson, before pointing the gun at the officer. The officer shot several times, hitting White, according to the report.
White was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the report said.
Hoos said that the cousin recalled Stenson being confused as to why White was there since he lived in St. Louis at the time. The cousin believed White knew Stenson would be in Peoria because she had posted about the flight to Peoria on Facebook.
