wandeljw wrote: Walter is coming back to Chicago!!!
Why not take him on a tour of the SouthSide?
2 dead in S. Side standoff
By Andrew Wang
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 24, 2006, 6:00 AM CST
A hostage standoff on Chicago's South Side ended tragically early today after about 24 hours with what police described as a murder-suicide.
After hearing a shot, a police SWAT team rushed through the back door of an apartment in the 6900 block of South Jeffery Boulevard where a gunman was holding a 22-year-old woman hostage, said police 1st Deputy Superintendent Dana Starks.
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They found the unidentified gunman and the woman dead or dying.
"At no time did the Chicago police department fire a weapon," Starks said.
Though police said earlier that the gunman held two hostages, Starks said they found only the two victims. He raised the possibility that a second hostage may have escaped.
The gunman was described as in his late 20s or early 30s. Starks said police are debriefing police officers and negotiators to determine if the gunman was mentally ill.
Starks said the gunman was a neighbor of the victim, but did not know the nature of their relationship or the reason for the hostage-taking. Their identities were not immediately disclosed.
But Sherry McKenzie had said Thursday that one of the hostages was her niece, Tasha Cooks, 22.
She said Cooks used the apartment phone to call her great-grandmother earlier in the day. When asked if she was OK, Cooks responded, ``Not really,'' and hung up, according to McKenzie.
Until they stormed into the apartment, police negotiators had been talking to the gunman and the hostage for hours, trying to defuse the tense situation as neighbors and friends milled near building.
The standoff began early Thanksgiving morning after an armed man took what then was then believed to be two young women hostage inside their apartment building. The gunman opened fire on authorities who responded to the scene.
Afterwards, police Supt. Phil Cline said "there is no reason this can't end peacefully."
The impasse ended when police heard a shot and sent a police SWAT team into the apartment where the gunman held the hostage. They threw a concussion granade, known as a "flash-bang," in an attempt to distract the gunman as they rushed in.
"When we hear one gunshot, then at that moment we make entry," said Starks. "As we went in, we used a flash-bang. There was a lot of noise going off," which might have masked the gunman's second shot.
"It appears that it may have been a homicide-suicide at this time," said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.
The standoff began around 1:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning when the armed man opened fire on authorities who responded to a call of shots fired. It ended about 1:05 a.m. Friday.
At a Thursday afternoon media briefing, an unidentified sister of the suspect pleaded for her brother, who she called "Lance," to give himself up.
"Everything is going to be OK," she said to television cameras, hoping to reach the suspect. "We're going to get everything you asked for."
Bond identified the suspect as in his late 20s or early 30s, and police knew he had been watching television all day, which is why they held the televised afternoon appeal.
Bond said police had been restricting information about the negotiations all day.
"We don't want to further agitate him," Bond said.
People walked back and forth along the four-block, blocked-off section of Jeffery Boulevard with foil-topped trays of food, trying to get to their own Thanksgiving dinners in the area. Police let some people through where safety could be assured.
One person waiting outside the affected area, who identified herself only as Vivian and said she lives next door to the building, said she was awakened by the shots.
"And I just heard a lot of commotion, and I heard shooting," Vivian said. "It's crazy and scary. Stray bullets have no name."
Three CTA bus lines were affected by the standoff. The No. 5 South Shore, No. 14 Jeffery Express and No. 15 Jeffery Local buses had to be rerouted around the crime scene, said Ibis Antongiorgi, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Transit Authority.
Chicago Tribune
It just takes a bit of coordination and cloning.
That's one way to avoid the holiday rush!
I think a lot of folks are considering a visit to NY to coincide with Walter's time there but a separate thread for the Chicago portion is fine. Or perhaps Walter should start a "Meet me in Chicago, NY, Boston" thread. Currently the discussion is on three different threads (which is also fine). I can give more attention to a larger Chicago gathering after the holidays.
