Charges have been filed after a SWAT team arrested a homeless man who advanced on them with a hammer while he was being evicted from a property he was squatting on for seven years near Lake Bluff.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office attempted to enforce a court-ordered eviction in the 3600 block of Skokie Highway in unincorporated Lake Bluff around 10 a.m. Thursday.
The property is a large commercial site with extensive land, including a section densely covered in foliage, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
The property owners last summer discovered a concealed tent structure — approximately 400 square feet — hidden in thick brush.
Covelli said a man, later identified as Christopher J. Hermanson, 63, had been living there for approximately seven years.
Hermanson refused to leave after being asked, prompting the property owners to seek an eviction order.
Sheriff’s deputies served Hermanson with notice of his eviction hearing in the fall.
“While he verbally objected, he was otherwise cooperative. Given the property’s conditions, deputies determined late winter or early spring would be the safest time to enforce the eviction,” Covelli said.
Hermanson was recently served with a final notice of eviction.
Covelli said deputies arrived Thursday to enforce the eviction and Hermanson began shouting threats from inside the tent that he was armed and would kill them if they approached.
He repeatedly threatened harm, insisting the property belonged to him, despite attempts by deputies to de-escalate the situation, Covelli said.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell said Hermanson told deputies things such as “Come close and I will kill you” and “I’m contemplating killing you.”
Hermanson also said, “You don’t want me to come out” and “This is my home, my land,” McConnell said.
Additional resources were requested and the Lake County Sheriff’s Tactical Response Team (TRT) responded along with canine units.
Covelli said Hermanson also threatened to kill the canines if they came near him.
Sheriff’s crisis negotiators attempted to reason with Hermanson for approximately four hours but he refused to exit peacefully.
The SWAT team began issuing final warnings just after 2 p.m. and ordered him to surrender.
Covelli said Hermanson suddenly cut a hole in the tarp around 2:10 p.m. and emerged from the structure with a hammer.
Covelli said the man refused commands to drop it as he aggressively advanced toward SWAT members.
Deputies deployed a less-lethal beanbag shotgun, striking him and allowing tactical team members to take him into custody without further incident.
Hermanson was transported to a local hospital, treated and released back into the sheriff’s office’s custody.
“Nobody wanted this to be the end solution, they just wanted him to simply leave the property. Instead of talking it through with the deputies, he once again resorted to violence,” McConnell said, adding that Hermanson ran at the deputies with a hammer attempting to kill them.
Northbound Route 41 from Route 60 in Lake Forest was shut down for hours during the incident.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges of two counts of aggravated assault of a peace officer, attempted aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, resisting a peace officer, obstructing service of process and criminal trespass to land.
The state’s attorney’s office filed a petition to detain Hermanson and Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition following a detention hearing on Friday afternoon.