SALEM, IL — Marion County authorities continue to hold tight to details surrounding the shooting death last week of 31-year-old Wesley Bivens at his rural Salem home. However, information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request has secured some never before released information.

According to deputy reports, Bivens’ girlfriend called 911 around 6:30p.m. the evening of Thursday, April 15, to report her boyfriend was coming at her, trying to hit her so she shot him. She informed dispatch she would be waiting outside and had left the gun inside the house but her boyfriend hadn’t yet left the home. Upon arrival, deputies confirmed a black handgun was sitting on the “snack bar” counter in the kitchen of the home and Bivens was in the hallway of the home, deceased and on his back.

A bullet casing was found next to the victim on his right side and another casing was found on the bed, which was also to his right. The deputy noted a large amount of blood was behind the victim’s head and his arms were covering his chest. The deputy and EMS then left the house to await the coroner and a search warrant for the home. County tax records show the girlfriend as the owner of the home. Around that time another man reportedly pulled into the driveway of the home and identified himself as the girlfriend’s father. When asked how he knew something was going on at the home, the man reportedly told the deputy that he has access to security cameras. He then explained that his phone cannot store surveillance footage but he believed there was a recorder inside the home that may show some footage.

After deputies secured a search warrant for the home, an Illinois State Police Crime Scene investigator found two other weapons, a 9mm pistol and .22 rifle from a closet in the downstairs bedroom of the two-bedroom home. Also secured were approximately 50 rounds of 9mm ammunition located in the glove box of a Chevrolet truck in the driveway that’s registered to the girlfriend.

She was taken to the Marion County Sheriff’s Department to be interviewed and her cell phone was taken into evidence. Charges have not been filed in the case, the girlfriend has been released from custody and her identity has not been officially released.