Sep 6, 2008 5:07 pm US/Central
Wheaton Bank Hostages: 'It Was a Long Afternoon'
WHEATON, Ill. (Naperville Sun) ―
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A view from Chopper 2 of the law enforcement presence at the Wheaton bank where a hostage situation was unfolding Sept. 5, 2008.
CBS
Law enforcement officials late Friday night continued seeking answers as to why a man lured a Wheaton police officer to a bank parking lot, disarmed him, invaded the bank and ultimately killed himself after taking a dozen people hostage.
DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann identified the man Friday night at Michael Long, 41, of the 1400 block of Cantigny Way in Wheaton.
Long apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, Siekmann said. An autopsy was scheduled for Saturday morning.
Deputy Wheaton Police Chief Thomas E. Meloni said the incident began at 1:28 p.m. Friday, when a police officer was sent to the parking lot of Wheaton Bank & Trust Co., 211 S. Wheaton Ave. in the city's downtown area.
The officer had gone there to investigate a 911 report of a traffic crash in the lot, Meloni said. "At this point, it appears the call concerning a hit-and-run was a phony call ... a ruse" designed to lure an officer to the lot, he said.
Meloni said the suspect, later identified as Long, "grabbed the officer from behind, placing an open knife blade" to his throat. The officer tried to defend himself, but Long slashed his forearm and wrested his police handgun from him, Meloni said.
Long then "ran into the bank lobby, forcing all persons to the floor," Meloni said. He held between 10 and 12 people at gunpoint.
Police, in the meantime, summoned dozens of officers to the area. Meloni said Wheaton police were assisted by their counterparts from Naperville, Glen Ellyn and the DuPage County sheriff's office, along with SWAT teams from Wheaton, the sheriff's office and the FBI.
Roadblocks were erected at several intersections ringing the bank. Freight and commuter train traffic on the nearby Union Pacific West/Metra Railway line was also suspended during the emergency.
Members of police hostage negotiation teams persuaded Long to release 10 of his captives two and three at a time throughout the afternoon. Employees of a law firm above the bank were escorted by police from a stairwell to the safety of a convenience food store at the southeast corner of Liberty Drive and West Street.
Long, with his last two hostages nearby, "began to close the blinds from the inside of the bank, and he also disconnected from phone contact" with police negotiators, Meloni said.
Two loud explosions from police "flash-bang" devices could be heard at 4:14 p.m. "At approximately 4:15 p.m., a single gunshot was heard" from inside the bank, Meloni said.
An ambulance raced to the bank within a minute, and paramedics found Long on the floor with a gunshot wound in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Meloni said the officer attacked by Long was taken to an area hospital for treatment of his "superficial" knife wound.
The crisis proved especially traumatic for Debbie Hlavac and her daughter, Katie Neuman, a legal secretary working in the law firm when the drama erupted. The Hlavac family lives in an unincorporated area near west-central Naperville.
Neuman said late Friday night by telephone she and her fellow workers were alerted to the emergency by one of the firm's partners who happened to be looking out a window.
"We saw cops just everywhere with shotguns," Neuman said. Another employee of the firm then made an announcement over the office intercom system, saying "there was a man with a gun in the building – lock your doors and stay put," Neuman said.
"There were 11 of us on the fourth floor that (SWAT team members) put in the stairwell," she said. "We were there about a half-hour."
"I was just absolutely beside myself," Neuman said, her voice quavering with the memory of events. Police "were doing a really good job of keeping us calm, (but) it was a really long hour."
SWAT team members soon "started running us out" of the building Neuman said. "We're running down the alley with our arms up in the air."
"It was just awful. Everybody just wanted to go home. It was a very long afternoon, to say the least."
Hlavac kept in touch with Neuman throughout the crisis via their wireless telephones. Hlavac, a member of Evangelical Free Church of Naperville, said she responded instinctively to the emergency with prayer.
"I called people I go to church with and said, 'start praying,'" Hlavac said near the intersection of Liberty Drive and West Street. "So this is a church-wide response and an answer."
Hlavac said a chill went through her when Neuman called around 2:45 p.m. and managed to speak only three words: "They're taking me." The phone then went dead.
Not certain whether Neuman had been referring to police or the gunman, a frantic Hlavac ran to the intersection. She told a police officer her daughter was in the building and begged him to allow her to go to her.
The officer instead directed Hlavac to the convenience food store, where she found Neuman and other employees safe.
"It was extremely emotional," Hlavac said of her reunion with her daughter. "It's such a relief and such an answer to prayer."
"You see this kind of thing all the time on TV and then all of a sudden it hits home, and then it takes on a slightly different dimension."
Hlavac added there were "two things I'm going to do when I get home."
"First I'm going to get down on my knees and thank God. And then I'm going to have a very large glass of wine."
(CBS 2, the Naperville Sun and the Aurora Beacon-News are news partners covering stories in the western suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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