An armed suspect who took a bank employee hostage at a Rockford Credit Union surrendered Friday night after a tense standoff lasting several hours, police said.
At around 2:45 p.m., police were first called for the report of an armed suspect at the Heritage Credit Union, 5959 E. State St. The gunman reportedly told several people to leave the business, and kept one employee inside who he held hostage through the evening, according to Rockford Police Chief Daniel O’Shea.
Crisis negotiators from both the FBI and Rockford Police Department were able to convince the suspect to surrender at around 9 p.m. The suspect was taken into custody, and as of Friday evening, it remained unclear what charges will be filed against him.
"The FBI negotiators worked seamlessly with the Rockford negotiators, and I couldn't give them enough credit," O'Shea said. "The FBI really stepped up to help us out, and was extremely active in this investigation."
The employee who was held hostage was taken to a hospital and checked for injuries, the police chief said.
Charges were expected to be filed through either the U.S. Attorney's Office or the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office.
The suspect, who has yet to be identified, had existing warrants through Winnebago County, officials said.
"The best case scenario is the incident was resolved quickly, and no one was held hostage," O'Shea added. "How it was resolved... it's not the resolution we wanted, but everyone's alive, and we'll go forward from there."
Several roads were closed following the incident, but had reopened before 10 p.m.
