The Buffalo Grove police chief said that a man who fired two guns into the air Thursday morning before being fatally shot by officers was the one who called 911, telling dispatchers he is “dangerous.”
The Buffalo Grove Police Department received a 911 call around 12:29 a.m. Thursday for a report of a man with a gun in the area of Radcliffe Road and Boxwood Lane in Buffalo Grove.
Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steven Casstevens said at a press conference that the 911 caller told dispatchers, “There’s a dude standing out there and he’s all crazy.”
The caller told dispatchers that the man was armed with a 9mm handgun and a .45 caliber handgun. “The dude just popped off two rounds,” the caller told dispatchers, according to Casstevens.
The caller also told the dispatcher “this guy is dangerous.” When the dispatcher asked the caller who the gunman was, the caller stated, “Well that would be me.”
The dispatcher asked the man several times to drop his weapons as the officers were responding but the man refused.
Officers arrived and found an armed male white in his early 20s in the parking lot of a vacant church at 1250 Radcliffe Road.
The man was later identified as Brian Christopher Howard, 25, of Elgin. He had recently been living with relatives in Buffalo Grove.
Howard was holding two handguns and began walking towards the officers. The man then started shooting both guns into the air, Casstevens said.
Officers gave Howard commands to stop but he refused and continued walking towards them while still armed with the guns, Casstevens said.
One officer fired several rounds from his handgun. Those shots did not strike the man, and a second officer fired shots, which did strike Howard.
The officers began to perform CPR on him. Paramedics pronounced Howard dead at the scene.
No one else was injured during the incident but two of the officers were transported to the hospital for observation.
The two officers, who Casstevens said are seasoned officers, will be placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
The incident was captured on one of the police car’s dash cams and will be released once the investigation is complete.
“No officer ever wants to take the life of another person. That being said, officers are often placed in split-second decisions where they are forced to take action that unfortunately results in deadly force,” Casstevens said.
Casstevens said he could not confirm yet if the incident was a “suicide by cop.”
The Lake County Major Crime Task Force is leading the investigation due to the officers being involved.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is in the process of scheduling an autopsy.