Man Shoots Rifle, Barricades Himself Inside Lockport Township Home
Charges are pending against a man accused of shooting an assault rifle and barricading himself inside his home in Lockport Township. Authorities say deputies responded to a call of gunfire yesterday in the area of Lawrence Avenue and Bruce Road before noticing an AR-15 style rifle in a nearby home. A man at that address called 911 and made threats against law enforcement. The man refused to leave the home for several hours until surrendering himself to the sheriff’s office later that night.
Will County Deputy Chief Dan Jungles tells WJOL when deputies arrived they attempted to make contact with the suspect. He refused to speak with deputies. There were no hostages. The SWAT team was on the scene and opened a dialogue with the suspect. A fairly large perimeter was established around the area in Fairmont. Again, the suspect is in custody and charges are pending.
Will County Press Release below
On 07/15/2019, at approximately 4:25 PM, the Will County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of shots fired in the area of Lawrence Avenue and Bruce Road in Unincorporated Lockport Township. When members of the Will County Sheriff’s arrived on scene, evidence of a rifle being fired in the area was located.
Members of the Will County Sheriff’s Office were initially unable to locate anyone in the area, but did observe an AR-15 style rifle inside of a residence located in the 2700 block of Lawrence Avenue through a window. A short time later, the Laraway Communications Center received a call from a male suspect who resided at the Lawrence Avenue address. This suspect began making threats to law enforcement over the phone.
Responding deputies were able to locate the suspect at the residence on Lawrence Avenue, just north of Bruce Road who refused to speak with deputies. Deputies considered this a barricaded suspect situation and were able to ascertain that there were no other individuals present in the home. Will County Sheriff’s Office deputies established a perimeter around the residence and the Will County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team responded to the scene.
An open dialogue was established with the suspect, who at that time refused to vacate the residence. After speaking with the suspect off and on for several hours, the suspect surrendered to members of the Will County Sheriff’s Office shortly before 10:00 PM without incident. A search of the area around the residence was conducted and an AR-15 style rifle was located on the property.
The suspect, Ryan Gass (age 35), was taken into custody for various offenses, and was transported to the Will County Sheriff’s Investigations Office for further questioning. Charges are pending against the suspect, and Ryan Gass will be later transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility for further processing. No photo of the suspect is available at this time.
