Police: Suspect in Illinois bank standoff dead

[September 06, 2008]  WHEATON, Ill. (AP) -- A gunman who took a dozen hostages in a suburban Chicago bank after wresting a gun from a police officer Friday died after shooting himself in the head, police said.

The standoff began around 1:30 p.m., after a Wheaton police officer responded to a call of a hit-and-run accident near the bank. When the officer arrived, the suspect grabbed the officer from behind, held a knife to his throat and demanded his gun, Deputy Chief Thomas Meloni said.

During an ensuing struggle, the officer was cut on a forearm and the suspect was able to take the gun and run the lobby of the Wheaton Bank & Trust, where he ordered everyone to the floor, Meloni said.

The DuPage County coroner identified the gunman Friday night as Michael R. Long, 41, of Wheaton, a city about 20 miles west of Chicago. An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday.

As officers evacuated nearby businesses and homes and shut down streets and rail service, hostage negotiators talked to the gunman by phone. They were able to persuade him to release 10 hostages, leaving two behind, Meloni said.

"At one point the suspect began to close the blinds from inside the bank and he disconnected the phone contact with the hostage negotiators," Meloni said.

Shortly afterward, about 4:15 p.m., officers heard a single gunshot and they rushed in, Meloni said. He said the man was dead of a single gunshot wound to the head. There were no other reported injuries.

A spokeswoman for Central DuPage Hospital, Amy Steinbruecker, said the hospital treated and released the police officer who scuffled with the suspect for minor injuries.

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.

---

Associated Press Writers Don Babwin and Caryn Rousseau contributed to this report.

[Associated Press; By SOPHIA TAREEN]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.