Posted on 12/08/2006 8:50:06 PM PST by STARWISE
4 dead, including gunman, in downtown shooting; Metra running again
Four people, including the gunman, have died after a shooting at a skyscraper west of Chicago's Loop, police said tonight.
The shooting at 500 W. Madison St., which includes the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
(snip)
Police Supt. Phil Cline said the dead included the gunman and three others. An additional person was wounded.
Cline said the gunman, a male who has not yet been identified, wanted to see a specific person when he entered a law firm on the 38th floor of the Citigroup Center office tower shortly before 3:15 p.m. He was armed with a snub-nose revolver, knife and hammer.
"He was escorted upstairs with a security guard, and he had a manila envelope … that held his weapons," Cline said.
When he arrived on the 38th floor, he asked to see a particular individual in the office.
"The offender then displayed a handgun and chained the door shut with a padlock and chain that he had brought with him. He then began shooting," Cline said. "He grabbed a hostage."
Uniformed police officers arrived first and secured the area, Cline said. Then a SWAT team accessed the office using a different entrance and engaged the suspect, he added.
They confronted the man in a hallway, where he alternately pointed his gun at the head of his hostage—a man who was unhurt—and his own head. Cline said that when the SWAT officers had a clear shot, they opened fire. It was about a 45-yard shot taken with a sniper rifle, he said, and the bullet fatally wounded the suspect.
Cline declined to identify the dead or wounded, but said the man the suspect had come to the office to see was killed.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
45-yard shot taken with a sniper rifle
yuh, must have been that .50 cal ive been hearing about
Nice shooting officer.
Aw, how terrible! Prayers up for the victims & their families.
45 yards? That is a BIG building!
I'll say .. now, that's a good sniper, right on the mark when needed. God bless him.
Many Iraqis wonder if Chicago is ready for democracy.
/sorry, I couldn't resist
God help these poor souls - unbelievable.
FYI, the law firm where the shooting took place handled patents and trademarks for big corporations. That at least is according to one of the local news reports, from ABC 7 I think. I'm gonna take a flyer and say this was a disgruntled inventor angry, justifiably or not, that some big shot lawyer screwed him over.
Well .. he got his wish. The lawyer's dead, and thanks to a great sniper .. so is he. I'll be anxious to learn the details .. nothing that I've seen released. You? I missed the local news.
Prayers for the victims.
Somebody should have told the shooter that handguns are illegal in Chicago.
It would be ridiculous to use a 50 cal sniper rifle for a 45 yard shot in an urban environment.
We feel he did have previous encounters with the individuals in that office," said Police Superintendent Phil Cline, without being more specific about the motive.
Once inside the gunman opened fire, wounding two people fatally. He had taken a hostage and chained a door when a police sniper shot down a hallway, striking the gunman from 45 feet away.
"There were at least another 25 to 30 people on the floor and I think the Chicago police officer -- SWAT -- saved those people's lives," said Cline.
He said the gunman may have shot himself as well, but an autopsy would have to show which was the fatal wound.
None of the dead victims, all men, or the gunman were identified. A fourth victim, a woman, was shot and taken to the hospital in serious condition. The hostage was unharmed, police said.
The Medical Examiner's office said the shooter was in his 60s. The dead victims included men ages 65 and 58, while the age of the third dead victim was unknown, the Medical Examiner's office said.
Yeah, yeah Cline. If folks in chicago were allowed to defend themselves, it's unlikely your platoon would have been needed and there's a good possibility only the perp would've gone down.
The assault on an upper floor of the Citigroup Center, 500 W. Madison St., put the Ogilvie Transportation Center on lockdown below and stranded commuters there for much of the afternoon rush.
A man chained shut the doors of a downtown law office Friday, then fatally shot three men and held another person hostage before he was shot by a police sharpshooter.
The assault on an upper floor of the Citigroup Center, 500 W. Madison St., put the Ogilvie Transportation Center on lockdown below and stranded commuters there for much of the afternoon rush.
Sources said they believed the shooter was a disgruntled former client of the attorney he had asked to see. The attorney, who leased space in the offices of intellectual property law firm Wood, Phillips, Katz, Clark & Mortimer, was one of the men slain, according to sources.
The gunman also killed a Wood Phillips attorney and another employee of the firm, the sources said. Another person, a woman, was shot in the foot and was being treated at a Chicago hospital Friday.
Police accounts of the killing shifted slightly through the evening.
Late Friday, police said the man drew a gun and ordered a security guard to take him up to the law offices. Earlier, police had said he brought the weapon into the law office secreted inside a manila envelope.
Police said the gunman—wearing a denim jacket, gray denim pants and an overcoat—arrived just before 3:15 p.m. He was armed with a snub-nosed revolver, a knife and a short-handled sledgehammer.
"Over the next several minutes, he shot four victims," said police Supt. Philip Cline.
The gunman held another man hostage for most of the next hour, until police SWAT team members shot the assailant in a tense hostage standoff in which the assailant may also have shot himself, Cline said. The gunman died at the scene.
A fourth shooting victim, a 57-year-old woman, was treated at Rush University Medical Center. The hostage was not harmed.
(snip)
Cline declined to identify the victims but said the suspect killed the man he had come to see.
Sources said the target of the attack was a 58-year-old lawyer who rented office space at Wood Phillips. He is the father of a Chicago police officer.He had practiced law for three decades, concentrating in patent law for the last 17 years, and was himself an inventor, according to his law firm's Web site.
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Rest at link.
Cline said that when the SWAT officers had a clear shot, they opened fire. It was about a 45-yard shot taken with a sniper rifle, he said.
On another note, Kofi Annan has requested that Chicago be included in Mideast talks.
This event did not happen doncha know?
Like you said...handguns are illegal in Chicago and we certainly know these laws are effective /sarc.
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