Police officers cleared in fatal Batavia shootout

A man who died in a standoff with police in August in Batavia killed himself, authorities announced Tuesday.

A joint news release from Batavia police and Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said Michael J. Seidelman, 39, shot himself once in the head. No shots fired by a Batavia police officer or two Kane County deputies hit him.

Mosser ruled that the officer and deputies were justified in shooting at Seidelman.

Police were called around 3:45 p.m. Aug. 16 to an apartment in the 1200 block of East Wilson Street for a report that a man was threatening to hurt himself, the release said.

Mosser’s office posted a video compilation on YouTube of officers’ body-camera videos and squad-cam videos.

An officer knocks on the second-floor apartment door. Yelling can be heard from inside the apartment, and someone else is saying, “Ow! Ow!”

“Step it up, we need additional units. There is something going on inside,” the officer tells another officer.

The officer repeatedly asks someone to open the door and tries to kick it open before asking for someone to bring breaching tools.

The news release said Seidelman was armed with an AR-15-style rifle. It said he fired more than 70 rounds inside and outside of the apartment.

There were two children in the apartment. One of them jumped off the balcony. About a minute later, multiple rifle shots are heard.

Mosser said officers were justified in firing at Seidelman because they had a reasonable belief that they and others in the vicinity were in danger of suffering great bodily harm or death.