Mount Prospect man under evaluation following roof standoff

A Mount Prospect man was being evaluated at a hospital late Sunday after climbing onto his home's roof with knives and engaging in a 3½-hour standoff with police earlier in the day, authorities said.

Mount Prospect police spokesman Bill Roscop said the incident with the 22-year-old man on the 400 block of Wille Street, southwest of Randhurst Shopping Center, began when officers came to serve an outstanding arrest warrant on him.

Roscop said the man explained the standoff by stating he didn't want to be arrested. The incident ended with the man's arrest after he was talked down from the roof by negotiators from a regional police tactical squad.

Four Mount Prospect police officers were approaching the house with the arrest warrant about 1:45 p.m. when the man spotted them on Wille Street and shut his home's front door, authorities said. Specifics about the warrant weren't immediately available.

When the cops started ringing the door bell, said Roscop, the man slipped out a window and climbed on top of the two-story house while carrying two "rather large kitchen knives."

Mount Prospect authorities then called for assistance from the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, which handles major incidents and includes nearly 100 suburban departments. About 40 police officers were sent to the scene.

Roscop said negotiators from the group's special tactical squad convinced the man to get down from his parents' roof about 5:15 p.m. Police arrested the man after he reached the ground on his own.

"They just basically explained to him how it would be better to put the knives down and to come on down," said Roscop.

Authorities said the 22-year-old man was under evaluation late Sunday at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. He had yet to be charged in the incident, which is why his name is being withheld from the public.

Roscop said the man's mother and a friend were in the house when the incident started, but they departed unharmed and cooperated with authorities.

Police blocked Wille Street during the standoff. Roscop said hundreds of spectators milled around the neighborhood as the incident played out.