CHICAGO (AP) — Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart says hostage takers shot twice through a door as officers stormed up a stairway in an ultimately successfully rescue at a suburban Chicago home.
He spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday, hours after SWAT teams freed two women and two children in the city of Harvey.
In continuous phone contact during the 20-hour standoff, Dart says gunman threatened to kill all the hostages. He says talks alternated “from idle talk to threats,” and by morning, authorities felt they needed to go in.
Dart says nobody was on a first floor as a SWAT team entered. Shots were fired as officer headed up stairs to the second floor, but no one was hit. He says officers immediately burst through the door and subdued the hostage takers.
