9-1-1 Operator To Gunman: 'We Don't Want You To Shoot Anyone Else, OK?'
(CBS) – A violent hostage standoff in Arlington Heights ended last week with a police officer shot and a suspect killed.
Now, we're learning more about the emergency dispatcher who was on the phone with gunman Eric Anderson and the incredible story of what was going on behind the scenes.
CBS 2's Brad Edwards reports.
Arlington Heights police responded to a call last Thursday of a man with a gun. Anderson had recently had a restraining order imposed against him.
Responding officer Michael McEvoy, 52, was wounded as he tried to enter the residence where Anderson was.
"I just shot a cop," the suspect coolly told a 9-1-1 dispatcher. "I'm in the basement by the door. If anybody comes down here, I'm shooting them."
The emergency dispatcher tried to calm him down.
"We don't want you to shoot anybody else, OK?" he said.
Anderson said his girlfriend was there with him. The police considered the woman a hostage.
The dispatcher engaged in delicate conversation, even as Anderson tried to brush him off.
"I want you to stay on the phone with me, so we can work out a solution here," the dispatcher said.
In the end, the only additional blood shed was Anderson himself. SWAT team members stormed the residence and fatally wounded him.
Dispatch also spoke with the hostage's father, out of state.
"I just texted my daughter, my daughter said that she is being held hostage, and that this crazy guy Eric shot a police officer," the father said.
"She wrote to me, 'Love you, tell mom I love her, too.'"
When it all ended, with the woman safe, the father had high praise for the dispatcher.
"I just want to tell you how wonderful you've been," the parent said. "When you go and you're headed to the pillow tonight, sleep well, because you deserve it."
"Thank you very much, sir, I appreciate it," was the response.
Less than a week before he died, Anderson was charged with sending harassing emails to the ex-girlfriend he eventually took hostage.
