By Andrew Wang
The Chicago Tribune
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — A police standoff that began in Waukegan at 3 a.m. Tuesday ended about 8:30 p.m., when a robbery suspect who had barricaded himself into an apartment killed himself after exchanging gunfire with police, officials said.
Police had talked to the man and tried to get him to surrender, but he refused, said Waukegan Deputy Police Chief Dan Greathouse.
“The suspect was given many opportunities to come out,” Greathouse said. The standoff was handled with “patience and respect,” he added.
The standoff began when police arrived in the 1600 block of 11th Street and the man refused to come out, Greathouse said.
“He said if anybody comes in, he’ll kill them,” Greathouse said.
Gunshots were heard several times during the impasse. Greathouse said the man fired at an armored police truck.
The man, who had a previous robbery conviction, was believed to be one of three suspects involved in a Monday night robbery in the 2300 block of North Corona Road in Waukegan, police said.
The victim, a woman in her 40s or 50s, was bound with duct tape and robbed by three men, one of whom was wearing a mask. The woman used a photo lineup to identify the man thought to have barricaded himself in the home. Police arrested a second man and are searching for the third, police said.
During the standoff, residents near the apartment, whom had been kept out of their homes all day, became frustrated as the hours went by with no resolution. After it was over, Greathouse told them police had done their best.
“We were trying to work all day to get him out, but he didn’t want to go back” to jail, Greathouse said. “He knew that he had a parole warrant and he was going back.”
About 6 p.m., police fired tear gas and flash grenades. Communication was cut off as the man sealed himself in the bedroom, Greathouse said.
After a final volley of shots, police heard a single shot from the apartment and then moved in to find the man dead with a “large-caliber” pistol in his hand.
Copyright 2008 The Chicago Tribune