5-story fire escape climb delivers intruder to SWAT training session, Chicago cops say
A man was shot by an officer after authorities say he used a fire escape to access the fifth floor of a Chicago police facility into a SWAT training session.
The unnamed suspect, who Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the incident on Monday, Sept. 26, initially asked a guard at the facility where he could pick up personal property. He was directed to the public entrance of the police department building, but Brown said he walked in a different direction.
Surveillance footage shows the man accessed a fire escape stairwell and climbed it to the fifth floor of the building, according to Brown. He entered the building through an exterior door, which was propped open for ventilation, the police superintendent said.
The fifth floor of the building was being used for SWAT training, and when the suspect made it inside, he grabbed two guns off a table for the training exercises, Brown said. Neither guns contained live rounds.
Officers immediately saw the man grab the guns, and they confirmed the intruder was not a part of their training, Brown said.
“These were guns that were being watched,” he said. “Obviously, someone coming from a stairwell outside startled everyone. Who is this person? Is this person associated with the training? We do have live actors sometimes who come in plain clothes.”
When the suspect pointed the guns at officers, one of them shot him, police said.
It’s unclear why the suspect infiltrated the police facility. Brown said he has a “lengthy criminal history of arrests.”
Police have not stated what charges the suspect may face. He was hospitalized after the shooting, but Brown declined to say where he was shot.
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