Associated Press
DIXON, Ill. — Three sheriff’s deputies were shot Wednesday morning while responding to a northern Illinois home, and the suspect was also wounded, authorities told reporters.
Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle says the deputies were responding to a report that someone inside the home was threatening to kill themselves and others. He said the suspect also was shot. He did not provide any information about the suspect, including name, age or where the person lives.
Ambulances and two medical helicopters went to the Lost Lake community near Dixon, where there also was a massive police presence, according to a post on the Winnebago Boone & Ogle County Fire/Ems Incidents Facebook page.
VanVickle said a family member called police shortly after 8:30 a.m. to report someone at the home was threatening to kill themself and others. He said negotiators tried to reach the person by phone and decided to go inside shortly before noon.
“Immediately upon entering the house, our deputies received fire from inside the house,” he said.
Three deputies were shot and the suspect also was shot, he said. VanVickle initially tried to leave after giving a statement without more detail but then told reporters that everyone “is in good condition.”
Illinois State Police will handle the investigation of the shooting, he said.
A spokesperson at Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital in Dixon said three people were taken to the hospital’s emergency department, two of whom were treated and released. The spokesperson did not release the condition of the third person.
Aerial video by local media Wednesday afternoon showed law enforcement and personal cars parked on the side of unpaved roads throughout the neighborhood and officials occasionally gathering in small groups but little ongoing activity. Yellow police tape blocked at least one driveway and an Ogle County sheriff’s mobile command center was parked at the end of the drive.
Lost Lake’s property owner’s association describes the area as a “country style community” with about 700 owners in an unincorporated area close to the cities of Dixon, Franklin Grove and Oregon, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Chicago.