Hostage standoff in central Illinois bank ends

 

 

By David Mercer

ARCOLA, Ill. – A man who took five hostages in a bank after a shooting that left a sheriff’s deputy critically wounded surrendered Thursday evening and gave up his last hostage without further violence, authorities said.

Arcola Police Chief Mike Phillip said shortly before 7 p.m. that the hours-long standoff with the suspect had ended.

State Police Sgt. Bill Emery said the suspect, who has not been identified, gave himself up peacefully and was in custody.

The man had released four hostages unharmed throughout the afternoon. The one hostage who had remained Thursday evening was unharmed, Emery said.

Authorities had said earlier that they were unsure whether the suspect was armed while inside First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust in this town of 2,600, where horse-drawn buggies of Old Order Amish and tractors are a familiar sight.

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The situation began at about 9:30 a.m. when a state trooper on Interstate 57, about 12 miles from Arcola, pulled over a silver Infiniti for having windows tinted too darkly. The trooper radioed for a drug-sniffing dog to be brought to the scene and the suspects fled, Emery said.

Because there was no violent crime or threat of a violent crime, the trooper was not allowed under State Police policy to give chase, Emery said. An hour later, the two men robbed a home in nearby Camargo and stole a van, leaving the silver car behind.

Soon after, Douglas County sheriff’s deputy Tom Martin pulled the van over and was shot in the face and torso as he walked up to the vehicle, Emery said. Authorities said Martin, though critically wounded, was able to call in the attack as the suspects fled, and the chase was on.

The van reached speeds of more than 100 mph, Emery said, and gunfire from the vehicle struck an Illinois State Police car in the windshield. The driver lost control of the vehicle as it careered over railroad tracks in Arcola, and the two men abandoned it.

One fled into the nearby bank. The other suspect, a 23-year-old Chicago man, was taken into custody but had not yet been charged. It wasn’t immediately clear to authorities which suspect shot the deputy.

Douglas County Sheriff Charlie McGrew said Thursday evening that Martin, a 59-year-old father of two, had already had one of two surgeries and that it went “very well.”