Dolton Standoff Ends With Two Dead

Bernie Tafoya Reporting

DOLTON, Ill. (WBBM) -- Police in south suburban Dolton say a man who had been drinking heavily took his wife hostage this morning and several hours later killed her and himself.

Dolton Police Chief Robert Fox says there was every indication 41-year old Gregory McClain had intended to give up peacefully.

McClain had dragged out the drama for six hours saying he had a lot of issues about coming out. When police heard one shot in the home on 146th and Avalon, the police Emergency Response Team moved in and found McClain and his 40-year old wife, LaTonya, dead.

Chief Fox says, there "was no exchange of gunfire between the officers and the subject". Police found the McClains dead on the basement floor.

Chief Fox calls it a "sad time for the family and the community". He says domestic violence "is such a serious thing" but he adds there had not been any domestic violence calls to the home in the past year.

Fox says Gregory McClain apparently lived in Calumet City while his wife lived at the Dolton home.

Police were originally called to the home at 7:47 a.m. after neighbors reported hearing shots fired. Police later determined no one had been injured at that time.

They were met outside the home by a 19-year old man who said his mother was being held hostage in the basement by his step-father who had been drinking all night.

Chief Fox says police negotiators noticed by Gregory McClain's slurred speech that he was, in fact, intoxicated.

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