Chicago Federal Courthouse Standoff Ends After Nine Hours

A person who entered Chicago’s federal courthouse with a knife was taken to the hospital Tuesday night after a standoff with authorities that lasted about nine hours , according to a spokesman for the US Marshals Service.

The matter began about 10:40 am Tuesday, when a “male subject” entered the lobby of the Dirksen US Courthouse with a knife and demanded to speak with law enforcement, prompting a lockdown and, a few hours later, an evacuation of the building, said Brady McCarron. The suspect’s vehicle was searched and “came up clean,” McCarron said.

The lobby was cleared of everyone but the subject and law enforcement officials including Marshals and the FBI, McCarron said. The negotiations lasted until late Tuesday evening, when he was taken to the hospital. McCarron declined to give further specifics.

The incident ground Dirksen to a halt Tuesday as the building was cleared floor by floor. At least two jury trials were scheduled that day.

The courthouse, a skyscraper in downtown Chicago, is home to the Eastern Division of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.