Courthouse Security
Report of man with knife at Chicago federal courthouse spurs police, FBI response
Police and the FBI responded Tuesday when a man said to be armed with a knife in the lobby of the federal courthouse in Chicago threatened to harm himself. (Photo by Christian K. Lee/The Associated Press)
Police and the FBI responded Tuesday when a man said to be armed with a knife in the lobby of the federal courthouse in Chicago threatened to harm himself, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times.
There is no danger to the public, according to Brady McCarron, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service who spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times. The incident happened at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, which houses the federal district and bankruptcy courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago.
A dispatcher on the police scanner said the man had a knife to his throat and was threatening suicide, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Reports differed on whether the entire Dirksen building or its lobby was on lockdown as a result of the incident. The lobby has been cleared, McCarron said. Streets near the courthouse were closed, report WGN-TV and CBS News.
The U.S. Marshals Service said the man was stopped before he could get past security, according to CBS News.
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