Police arrived at 509 West Murray Street just after 6 p.m. last night after a 911 call alleging someone had a gun at the home.
“At the time, the call came in we took it as a serious incident. You know it’s a barricaded subject, and at that point, we don’t have the resources. We’re not able to make contact. We attempted to call the number back, we attempted to use our PA system to get somebody in the residence to answer. No one was answering. We just don’t have the equipment, so what
we did was contact Illinois State Police Tactical Response Team. And they brought in robots. We had robots in the house. Robots went all through the house and let us know no one was there,” says Chief Curt Barker.
After that call, police blocked off several streets surrounding the home, which caused go west transit to be rerouted.
Residents were told to stay inside their homes while police attempted to make contact with the people they believed to be inside.
Later, neighbors were asked to evacuate their homes.
About five hours later, police determined the call was a hoax, and no one was inside the residence. Police brought in Illinois State Police’s Tactical Response Team who deployed robots to search the home.
In a briefing this morning, police tell us a suspect in this investigation is from the Chicagoland area and may be a former Western Illinois student.
The owner of the phone that placed the call has not been located.
