Gunman dies in McHenry standoff

Bystanders console one another while watching police secure the area surrounding the hostage situation in McHenry. Police departments from across the area assisted McHenry County law-enforcement agencies. The standoff ended late last night in the death of a McHenry man. (Rebekah Raleigh photo)

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McHENRY – A six-hour standoff over a couple’s child-custody dispute ended late Wednesday in the death of a McHenry man, police said.

At 11:30 p.m., members of the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System entered a unit in the Towerview Apartment complex to find Gary Gitchel, 48, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Deputy Chief Bill Brogan said.

About 5:15 p.m., at least 100 police officers swarmed to the 4000 block of Kane Avenue southwest of the McHenry Public Library after Gitchel allegedly fired at least six rounds through a door during a child-custody exchange, police said.

Click here for more photos of Wednesday's standoff.

The dispute apparently revolved around Gitchel wanting further visitation with his daughter, police said.

The ordeal forced 30 to 50 people in neighboring apartments to evacuate and closed Route 31 from Route 120 to Grove Street.

Brogan said the mother and child had left the apartment before the man shot at two police officers supervising the return of the child to their mother.

Brogan did not reveal the tactics that officers used to end the standoff. He said police did not know what type of gun the man had fired and would know today whether the man had a firearm owner’s identification card.

Police at first blocked off Kane Avenue and adjacent east-west thoroughfares, but shortly blocked off Route 31 between Route 120 and Grove Street, and began moving crowds of spectators from the parking lots on Route 31’s east side.

Shortly before 9 p.m., officers drove the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office armored personnel carrier and a smaller one up to the man’s building, ordering him to surrender over the loudspeaker.

Meanwhile, the library had opened its doors to the evacuated residents as authorities emptied one apartment building after another, telling residents already in other buildings to stay inside. The library parking lot became a staging area for police cars from as far away as Skokie, Mundelein and Deerfield.

Apartment complex resident Darlene Villalobos was stuck in her apartment with her 8-year-old daughter for at least three hours, watching officers brandishing guns and wearing vests walking past her building.

Villalobos was separated from her 16-year-old son, who had been at the library when the incident started.

"I just can't wait until my son gets home," Villalobos said. "You pace, and you sit. And then you pace some more.”

Earlier, police had told owners of nearby businesses not to venture outside.

"[Police] wouldn't say anything," said Marilyn Kinder, manager of the nearby Watertower Hair Port salon. “They just told everyone to go on and lock their doors – you're probably safer where you are.”

Neighbor Andrea Saldaris watched helplessly from across the street. She needed formula for her 4-month-old son, but could not cross the police cordon to get to it. She just moved into the apartment complex on Aug. 1, and wondered out loud whether she made the right choice.

"I just moved in," Saldaris said. “I'm going to move out if this is the case. I thought this was safe."

– Northwest Herald reporter Sarah Sutschek contributed to this story.