Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Shooter Dead, Cop in Critical Condition Following Hostage Situation

An Arlington Heights police officer was shot.

UPDATED 9:15 a.m., Dec. 14

The man who shot an Arlington Heights police officer was identified as 41-year-old Eric M. Anderson of Niles. Anderson was arrested last week for harassing the woman he later held hostage. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST.

UPDATE: 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13


An Arlington Heights police officer is in critical condition and his shooter is dead following a hostage situation Thursday night, according to the Daily Herald. 

A SWAT team entered the townhouse in the 1900 block of Winham Court in Arlington Heights at 10:30 p.m. fatally shooting Eric Anderson, 41, who is accused of taking a female hostage and shooting an Arlington Heights police officer earlier in the night, according to the article. 

The woman was not injured and the police officer, a 20-year veteran of the department, was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge where he was in critical but stable condition, according to the Chicago Tribune. Anderson, of Niles, shot the officer after he was first to enter the town home while responding to the hostage situation around 6:50 p.m. 

NBC Chicago reports the police officer was shot in the neck. Arlington Heights Police Commander Andrew Whowell told ABC7 Chicago the hostage situation likely stemmed from a domestic incident. 

Update, 11 p.m. Thursday

The hostage situation at the Enclave town homes in Arlington Heights has ended. Police and SWAT team members made the decision to storm the home, reported a Patch editor who was at the scene.

Click here for video from the scene.

A 41-year-old unidentified male suspect was shot and wounded by police, and transported by ambulance to the hospital. The female hostage is safe and unharmed.

An Arlington Heights police officer who was shot by the suspect while responding to the scene earlier in the evening is reportedly in critical but stable condition.

Update, 10:50 p.m. Thursday

suspect may be in custody, reported the Chicago Tribune. Three shots were also heard near the scene at about 10:30 p.m., according to the paper.

An Arlington Heights Police officer was shot and taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The newspaper reported that the officer was shot in the neck in the 1900 block of Windham Court, at the Enclave townhomes at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Police said the situation began as a domestic dispute and has now become a hostage situation, the newspaper reported.

Police "strategically shot out streetlights to help them tactically with the negotiations," reported ABC-7 news.

Palatine Road is closed in all directions between Arlington Heights Road and Kennicott Drive, reported the Daily Herald.

Click here for more on this story.

The Daily Herald has video from a press conference with Arlington Heights Police Cmdr,. Andrew Whowell.


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