Gunman At CitiCorp
The story I'm posting has to do with me in that this happened 4 blocks away from my work. The Verizon Wireless kiosk in the Oglivie trainstation, also known as the CitiCorp building, is on the first floor and one of my co-workers was filling in for someone there while this all happened.
http://www.nbc5.com/news/10497342/detail.html
Four people are dead and one other is hospitalized after a shooting at a downtown skyscraper Friday that snarled the evening commute and sent people running from the office tower, police said.
All Metra service was temporarily shut down, but at 5 p.m., officials said the building had been reopened and train service was resuming.
he gunman was shot by police, but not before shooting four victims, according to authorities.
Police Superintendent Phil Cline said the gunman was armed with several weapons when he walked into an office on the building's 38th floor, chained the doors behind him and opened fire while he was holding a hostage.
Cline said the gunman didn't work in the office but demanded to see one of the victims who was killed. The gunman had been escorted to the office by building security and was carrying a manila envelope where he apparently hid weapons that included a snub-nose revolver, knife and hammer.
The man began shooting after locking the door with a padlock and chain that he had brought with him, Cline said, then "grabbed a hostage and he was pointing a gun alternately at the hostage's head and his own head."
Officers entered through another door, Cline said, and a SWAT officer shot him with a sniper rifle from about 45 yards away. He said there was no negotiation, and there were up to 30 other people on the floor at the time.
"Squad officers fired, hitting the offender. Before the offender died, he may also have shot himself," Cline said.
The first shooting was reported at about 3:15 p.m. on the 38th floor of the building at 500 W. Madison St., which houses Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Three people were hospitalized in critical condition -- two at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and one at Cook County Hospital -- and one was in stable condition at Rush University Medical Center, fire department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said.
Three of those victims, all men, subsequently died. A woman remains hospitalized, Cline said.
The hostage was not harmed.
Cline said the gunman "was not employed there, but we feel he did have previous encounters with the individuals in that office."
Pat Camden, a police spokesman, said at about 4:15 p.m. that the situation had ended. A few minutes prior, an ambulance left the scene at a high rate of speed, followed by Chicago police cars. That shooting victim may have been the gunman, NBC5 reported.
The lower floors of the building where commuter trains arrive were evacuated. Several streets surrounding the building remained closed at 5:15 p.m.
Bill Healey, who works with a firm in the building, spoke with NBC5 on the phone while the building was under lockdown.
"We are all gathered in my office and kind of barricaded in right now," Healey said. "We're all safe at this point ... but everybody's quite uneasy."
People in the building said a public announcement repeatedly told workers to lock themselves in their suites and not to allow anyone in or out.
Keegan Greene, who works at Verizon Wireless on the first floor said that when the alarms went off, everyone thought it was a fire until security guards started shouting.
"One of the security guards that controls our kiosk came up and kept repeating, 'Run, run, run, run!'" Greene said.
Kirstin Kostuchowski, 19, said she was sitting in a cafe waiting to board a train for Elburn, Ill., when an announcement over the loudspeaker advised all passengers on trains to stay in their seats, and everybody else to leave building.
http://www.nbc5.com/news/10497342/detail.html
Four people are dead and one other is hospitalized after a shooting at a downtown skyscraper Friday that snarled the evening commute and sent people running from the office tower, police said.
All Metra service was temporarily shut down, but at 5 p.m., officials said the building had been reopened and train service was resuming.
he gunman was shot by police, but not before shooting four victims, according to authorities.
Police Superintendent Phil Cline said the gunman was armed with several weapons when he walked into an office on the building's 38th floor, chained the doors behind him and opened fire while he was holding a hostage.
Cline said the gunman didn't work in the office but demanded to see one of the victims who was killed. The gunman had been escorted to the office by building security and was carrying a manila envelope where he apparently hid weapons that included a snub-nose revolver, knife and hammer.
The man began shooting after locking the door with a padlock and chain that he had brought with him, Cline said, then "grabbed a hostage and he was pointing a gun alternately at the hostage's head and his own head."
Officers entered through another door, Cline said, and a SWAT officer shot him with a sniper rifle from about 45 yards away. He said there was no negotiation, and there were up to 30 other people on the floor at the time.
"Squad officers fired, hitting the offender. Before the offender died, he may also have shot himself," Cline said.
The first shooting was reported at about 3:15 p.m. on the 38th floor of the building at 500 W. Madison St., which houses Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Three people were hospitalized in critical condition -- two at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and one at Cook County Hospital -- and one was in stable condition at Rush University Medical Center, fire department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said.
Three of those victims, all men, subsequently died. A woman remains hospitalized, Cline said.
The hostage was not harmed.
Cline said the gunman "was not employed there, but we feel he did have previous encounters with the individuals in that office."
Pat Camden, a police spokesman, said at about 4:15 p.m. that the situation had ended. A few minutes prior, an ambulance left the scene at a high rate of speed, followed by Chicago police cars. That shooting victim may have been the gunman, NBC5 reported.
The lower floors of the building where commuter trains arrive were evacuated. Several streets surrounding the building remained closed at 5:15 p.m.
Bill Healey, who works with a firm in the building, spoke with NBC5 on the phone while the building was under lockdown.
"We are all gathered in my office and kind of barricaded in right now," Healey said. "We're all safe at this point ... but everybody's quite uneasy."
People in the building said a public announcement repeatedly told workers to lock themselves in their suites and not to allow anyone in or out.
Keegan Greene, who works at Verizon Wireless on the first floor said that when the alarms went off, everyone thought it was a fire until security guards started shouting.
"One of the security guards that controls our kiosk came up and kept repeating, 'Run, run, run, run!'" Greene said.
Kirstin Kostuchowski, 19, said she was sitting in a cafe waiting to board a train for Elburn, Ill., when an announcement over the loudspeaker advised all passengers on trains to stay in their seats, and everybody else to leave building.