A seven-hour standoff in Round Lake involving dozens of police officers and a SWAT team came to an end after the suspect, who was barricaded in an attic, was sprayed by a fire hose Tuesday morning.
The Round Lake Police Department responded around 3 a.m. Tuesday to a residence near Macgillis Drive and Nippersink Avenue for a report of a disturbance.
A 23-year-old woman who lives in the apartment building told police that a 26-year-old man, who also lives in the building, came into her bedroom and demanded belongings that he believed she had stolen, Round Lake police said in a statement.
The woman told police that he threatened to hit her and had weapons. A neighbor saw the man go back into his apartment before coming back out with something in his hand.
Police officers located the man inside his apartment and saw a semi-automatic pistol on the sofa. The man’s girlfriend told police that there was another man in the bedroom with a weapon.
That man, later identified as Fernando Lopez Poblete, 23, of Round Lake Beach, refused to exit the locked bedroom, police said. He retreated to the attic, where he hid under insulation.
The Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS) was utilized, bringing dozens of officers and a SWAT team to the scene.
NIPAS officers used flash bangs and pepper spray unsuccessfully in an attempt to get Poblete to exit the attic, Round Lake police said. Water from a fire engine hose was sprayed into the attic and Poblete surrendered.
Officers did not find the man in possession of a weapon and the only weapon located in the apartment was the one on the sofa, police said.
Poblete was charged with obstructing justice/destroying evidence and resisting a peace officer, and also had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on DUI charges.
Nippersink Avenue was re-opened to traffic by 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and Murphy Elementary School cancelled their soft lockdown.