UPDATE: Wheaton Hostage Situation Ends With Suspect's Suicide
WBBM Newsradio 780.com Reporting
WHEATON -- The arrival of SWAT teams signaled the end of a hostage situation on Friday afternoon, with confirmed reports the suspect died of one self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
As the evening progressed, he was identified as 41-year-old Wheaton resident Michael Long.
The DuPage County Sheriff’s office and coroner's office are investigating
The positioning of the incident in the Wheaton Bank and Trust was incidental, as that was where the suspect fled after what at first appeared to be a routine traffic incident turned ugly.
About 1:28 p.m., a Wheaton police officer was dispatched to the bank for a report of a hit-and-run accident in the parking lot, according to police. But police later said even that was a ruse, adding to the mysterious circumstances. There was no accident.
"It appears the call was a phony call. It was called in on purpose to draw an officer there," said Wheaton Police Department Deputy Chief Thomas Meloni.
As the police officer was surveying the scene, the suspect grabbed the officer from behind, placing an the open blade of a knife to the officer’s throat. The suspect disarmed the officer, taking the officer’s weapon.
The suspect ran into the bank lobby, taking control of 10-12 persons. Additional officers responded, cordoned off the area and began evacuating neighboring businesses and homes, the release said. Hostage negotiators were successful in obtaining the release of 10 hostages, but two were held by the suspect throughout the afternoon.
"SWAT teams came in and took us out the back way," said Anna Radcliffe, who works at MRV Law Firm in the building.
"I'm glad everyone made it out alive," said Denice Smith, who also works at MRV Law Firm. "I bet this building's going to be one happy family"
As officers evacuated nearby businesses and homes and shut down streets and rail service, hostage negotiators began talking to the gunman by phone. They were able to persuade him to release 10 hostages, leaving two behind, Meloni confirms.
"He was cooperating by letting one, two, three (hostages) go at a time," Meloni said.
Under police guard, frightened workers slowly filed out of the building's upper floors occupied by law firms and other businesses.
Kevin Macadam, who said his wife was a hostage inside the bank, talked to investigators Friday. He said his wife was the only customer among the hostages and the third one released.
The suspect was calm when he entered the bank and employees convinced him to release Macadam's wife, Macadam said
Two people were taken to local hospitals from the scene and the original officer on the scene was treated at a hospital for a cut to the forearm and released.
Investigators with the DuPage County Sheriffs Department were to interview hostages and people evacuated from the building Friday evening, Meloni said.
Bank president Bob Hutchinson told reporters at the scene Friday that the bank would be closed until Tuesday.
"On behalf of our employees and customers, we regret this happened," Hutchinson said. "We feel for the family of the victim."
Television footage showed dozens of people running from the four-story bank building, which includes other businesses, with their hands above their heads.
"We locked our office door, turned off the lights, drew the blinds," said Donna Price, 52, of McHenry who works in the office building. "Then we heard a knock on the door and it was a SWAT guy. He told us to get out right now.
"I said, 'Let me get my purse.' He said, 'No, now."'
Price said police held people in a stairwell of the building before ordering them out.
"We all had to put our hands up on the back of our heads and run," Price said from a convenience store across the street where more than 100 people were crowded. She said police were evacuating everyone there by bus.
At approximately 4:15 p.m., a single gunshot was heard and three teams of SWAT officers -- local, county, and FBI SWAT -- entered, finding the suspect dead at the scene.
Meloni said that shortly before the standoff ended, the gunman "began to close the blinds from inside the bank and he disconnected the phone contact with the hostage negotiators." At about 4:15 p.m., officers heard a single gunshot and rushed in, Meloni said.
Wheaton police were assisted by Glen Ellyn, Warrenville and Naperville police, and the DuPage County Sheriff’s office. The FBI was called to assist in case this was a bank robbery. It was not, said the FBI.
The bank is adjacent to the Wheaton Metra station and police initially stopped trains.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2008 by WBBM. The STNG wire and The Naperville Sun contributed to this report.
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