Lyons

‘Everybody Down!': Gun Battle With Cops Leaves Homicide Suspect Dead in Lyons

The sole suspect in the shooting death of a 37-year-old DeKalb woman was killed during a gun battle with police in a west suburban intersection Friday evening, authorities confirmed.

Multiple police and emergency response vehicles could be seen in the 8100 block of Ogden Avenue in the village of Lyons about 7:12 p.m. after the chaos of gunfire had subsided.

State police were assisting Sycamore police in Lidia Juarez's shooting death investigation. Juarez's body was found in Sycamore at 1629 Afton Road earlier in the day, police said. ISP investigators located the suspect in Juarez’s homicide driving a vehicle and began following him, police said, with multiple agencies assisting in the surveillance operation.

The suspect opened fire on the officers near Ogden Avenue and Joliet Road, police said. Officers returned fire and fatally wounded the suspect, according to police. The suspect was declared dead at the scene and a firearm was recovered, police said. 

The identity of the suspect shot by police was not immediately released as next of kin notifications were still pending, state police said.

A witness said officers had attempted to pull the suspect over before the shooting.

No officers were injured, police said.

Lyons police did not immediately respond to request for comment. A dispatcher who answered the phone at the department's main number Friday evening said they were "very busy" and could not release any information.

A large police response was visible near a strip mall in the west suburban village of Lyons Friday evening.

A black sedan surrounded by crime scene tape sat in the intersection. A white sheet was draped over the passenger side door. The sedan's front bumper was pressed up against what appeared to be a black police SUV.

Dimitra Kostadinov, the owner of P J Klem's restaurant on the corner where the shootout took place, said she saw police chasing a vehicle down the street before gunfire erupted.

"I was packing an order to go, as I turned around, the first thing I heard was shots," she said in a phone interview.

Kostadinov said after the shooting she never saw anyone get out of the car officers had fired into. She said no one in the restaurant, which had about 40 people in it at the time, was harmed.

“The first thing I did is start screaming ‘everybody down, everybody down,’” she recalled. "And that's what they did, all the customers just jumped to the floor."

Kostadinov added that a waitress taking a to go order out of a service window said she saw someone in the vehicle shoot out of the car toward police before officers returned fire.

Yellow evidence markers littered the street between a Lyons police SUV with its trunk ajar and what appeared to be the suspect's vehicle.

The investigation was ongoing Friday evening, according to state police.

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