Suspect in custody after tense standoff with Illinois State Police in East St. Louis
One person is in custody after a tense standoff with an Illinois State Police SWAT team in East St. Louis on Wednesday.
According to ISP officials, the suspect fired on officers as they attempted to serve a search warrant at a residence in the 500 block of N. 46th Street. The identity of the person arrested has not been released, pending charges.
The search warrant was related to a narcotics investigation being conducted by the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southern Illinois (MEGSI), according to an ISP release. Members of the SWAT team performed an “announce and call out” procedure, but received no response from the house’s only occupant.
As they began “entry procedures,” the suspect fired a weapon towards SWAT officers. He surrendered shortly thereafter and was taken into custody, the release stated.
Police did not say if officers returned the fire. There were no injuries, however, the release said.
An ISP SWAT team member was shot and killed serving a similar warrant at an East St. Louis home in 2019. Trooper Nicholas Hopkins, a husband and father of three from Waterloo, was shot in the head at a drug house in on 42nd Street.
Christopher Grant, 47, a “street-level drug dealer,” according to a federal prosecutor, was sentenced last week to nearly 38 years in prison. He still faces state charges of first-degree murder.
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 1:42 PM.
