A day after a deadly hostage standoff at a hospital in Geneva, questions are being raised about how an inmate was able to gain control of a weapon and set off the chain of events that took place.
“Mr. Salters was in a hospital room under guard,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said. “How that incident took place and developed from that initial room to other locations in the hospital is still part of the investigation, and that is ongoing.”
The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon at Delnor Hospital in Geneva. Kane County jail inmate Tywon Salters was able to gain control of a correctional officer’s weapon inside of the hospital, where he held two different nurses hostage on the third floor before going down to the emergency room on ground level.
Both nurses escaped unharmed, but after Salters hit a SWAT member with a shot, the SWAT officers returned fire, striking and killing the 22-year old inmate.
According to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, it is normal policy to restrain inmates when they are hospitalized, and the State’s Attorney’s office says that restraints were present in the room where Salters was being held.
Whether the restraints were in place at the time of the incident is still under investigation, according to the State’s Attorney.
“That’s part of the investigation, how he was being or not being restrained in the hospital room originally,” McMahon said.
Local
According to NBC 5, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office is currently reviewing its policies on handling hospitalized inmates, and the Illinois State Police are currently investigating the officer-involved shooting that left Salters dead.
