Barricade situation at Round Lake apartment building leads to lockdown at local school

Pepper spray, flash bang grenades and a fire hose were all employed by officers trying to end a standoff with a 24-year-old Round Lake Beach man who had locked himself in an attic of an apartment building Tuesday morning, police said.

The man, identified as Poblete Lopez Fernando, was eventually apprehended in the attic of the building, which is on the 200 block of Nippersink Road. According to officers, Fernando was attempting to hide under insulation.

In trying to flush Fernando out, officers threw in flash bang grenades, sprayed pepper spray and even blasted a fire hose into the attic, Round Lake Police Chief Michael Gillette told the Lake County News-Sun on Tuesday.

New charges against Fernando, who was wanted by police for failing to appear in court for a DUI warrant, are pending, according to a news release.

Officers first arrived at the building at around 3 a.m. Tuesday to respond to a report of a disturbance. A 23-year-old woman told officers that one of her neighbors entered the bedroom of her apartment without permission and threatened to hit her because he suspected she had stolen something from him. The man told the woman he had weapons, the release said.

When the man saw the officers, he ran into his apartment. Officers confronted him and he told them he had swallowed a bag of methamphetamines so he was rushed to the hospital, the release said. Information about the man's health status and whether he will face charges was not made available by police Wednesday.

Officers noticed a pistol on the man's sofa. His girlfriend told police about another man, later identified as Fernando, who had locked himself in a bedroom and had a gun, the release said. He eventually made his way from the locked bedroom to the building's attic, police said. Fernando was taken into custody after the standoff.

Because of the presence of firearms, officers requested the assistance of the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System. No other firearms besides the one found on the couch were identified on the property by police.

Nearby Murphy Elementary School was placed on a soft lockdown, which meant school activities continued as normal but access to the building was limited.

Round Lake Police Chief Michael Gillette did not return calls for comment Wednesday.