Chicago standoff ends; suspect apparently shot himself
CHICAGO -- After hours in a standoff with a man suspected of killing three people, Chicago Police SWAT officers rushed into the house Thursday afternoon to find the man had apparently shot himself.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the man's body was found in an upstairs room of the home in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side.
Earlier Thursday, police exchanged gunfire with the man and then brought in his family, who used bullhorns to implore him to give himself up, Guglielmi said. But when the man refused to come out, police fired gas canisters into the home and then went into the home.
It was not immediately clear if the man, who opened fire from a window, had been struck by any of the bullets fired by officers, Guglielmi said. No officers were hurt.
CBS Chicago reported that Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said the suspect died of a "self-inflicted gunshot wound." A gun was found in his hand, Johnson said, according to the station.
Earlier the "person of interest" fired at Chicago police officers after he holed up inside a home in the Fernwood neighborhood, the station reported.
"Everyone lost a loved one," said the suspect's sister, after she learned her brother was dead.
During the standoff, police played a recording from the man's mother, who pleaded with her son to surrender, Deputy Chief Steve Georgas said, according to CBS Chicago.
Chicago Police First Deputy Supt. John Escalante said the man barricaded himself inside a home around 4:30 a.m.
Deputy Chief Steve Georges said police had a short conversation over a telephone with the suspect, who hasn't been identified, after which he appeared in a window and began shooting.
Around 9:15 a.m., the man leaned out a window and fired several shots at SWAT officers across the street, according to Escalante.
The man was wanted for questioning in the shooting deaths of three people Wednesday night in the West Englewood neighborhood. The shooter knew the victims, who appear to have been from the same family, police spokeswoman Laura Amezaga said.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified them as Makeesha Starks and Kiara Kinard, both 26, and Jerome T. Wright, 50. Two were shot in the head and one in the back, Amezaga said.
Outside of the home Thursday, an armored police vehicle and several patrol cars were parked outside. Some officers wore helmets and carried rifles. Anxious neighbors milled about beyond a police barricade, including a woman who burst into tears at the sound of the gunfire.