Round Lake Beach

Police fatally shoot man wielding sledgehammer in Round Lake Beach

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Police officers in north suburban Round Lake Beach fatally shot a man wielding a sledgehammer at them after he also beat two women with the weapon.

Officers responded about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday to a home in the 2000 block of Redwood Drive, where they found two female victims in a garage with blunt force injuries to their faces and heads, the Lake County sheriff’s office said. Both women were hospitalized with “serious injuries.”

The man, whose age wasn’t released, came to the front door armed with a sledgehammer when officers approached the home. He refused to disarm himself and lunged at the officers, at which time one officer deployed a Taser, police said.

The man lunged at the officers three more times near the front doorstep before he raised the sledgehammer and again moved toward an officer. “At least one of the officers” then shot the man, police said.

Officers rendered aid to the suspect until paramedics assisted him. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Three Round Lake Beach police officers also were hospitalized for evaluation, police said.

The Lake County Major Crime Task Force is investigating the incident.

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