Gunman ID'd in Wheaton standoff

A two-hour police standoff ended Wednesday when Trent Collier, 30, of Wheaton, shirtless and in swim trunks, shot and killed himself in the Danada East subdivision.

Collier held a pistol to his head outside a house on Hawkins Circle while talking about losing his job and at times ranting “somewhat incoherently,” according to police and eyewitness reports. Police said Thursday morning they're still investigating any ties Collier may have had that brought him to the Danada East area.

The ordeal began at about 12:30 p.m. with a 911 call reporting a man trying to break into a FedEx truck in the 10 block of Hawkins Circle, according to Wheaton police.

Police responded and found the man with a gun in his right hand standing on the front step of a house at 92 Hawkins Circle.

Residents were told to stay indoors, and officers cordoned off the area.

“They’ve got everything locked down,” one neighbor, Kristin Dixon, said an hour into it. “I was told to bring (my) children inside.”

Police negotiators tried to talk the  man into putting the gun down, but he refused.

"At different times he would stand, pace or sit in the yard, always holding the weapon against his head,” Wheaton police said in a statement.

Kaitlyn Coglianese, 20, was within earshot from her house. He was yelling that he did not want to harm anyone, she said, but that he lost his job and wanted to commit suicide. She also heard him singing songs, she said.

“He was rambling on somewhat incoherently at times,” said Wheaton Deputy Police Chief Tom Meloni.

During the standoff the man was flailing his arms, said eyewitnesses Andrew Dabisch, 16, and Brian Welker, 17.

“At one point I actually thought he was dancing; he was moving his body, too,” Welker said. "He didn't look angry or anything. He was flailing."

Another eyewitness neighbor, 28-year-old Jarrod Mondale, said that at some points the man waved the gun around and appeared to be taunting police.

Coglianese said he did not have his finger on the trigger the entire time, but he did have a constant grip on the weapon.

The man had moved down to sit on the lawn — and was growing increasingly agitated, according to a police source — when he shot himself in the head at about 2:45 p.m. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

None of several eyewitnesses who were interviewed either knew the man or could recall seeing him in the neighborhood before Wednesday. The owners of the house at 92 Hawkins Circle were trying to sell it but they took down the “For Sale” sign after Wednesday afternoon, Coglianese said.

Meloni said police are withholding the man’s identity until they can notify his family, which live outside the state. The man had dark hair and was average to heavy build, according to eyewitness descriptions.

As the situation played out, much of the Danada East neighborhood was closed off for most of the afternoon, and police evacuated Rice Pool and locked down the Wheaton Park District Community Center on Blanchard Road.

Many residents could not return home; others could not leave. In some cases, parents found themselves separated from their children — only several houses away but across the police line.

Theresa Lessick was at a neighbor’s house about a quarter mile from her own when the standoff began. She said police would not let her back to retrieve her 12- and 14-year-old daughters.

“They told me that the best place for them to be was inside the house,” Lessick said. “I called them and told them to get into the basement until I got there.”

That solution lasted only a little while, she said. After the youngest daughter grew anxious, Lessick’s husband crossed Briar Patch Park, managed to get to their backdoor and get the daughters out, she said.

Down the street, 15-year-old John Stella was watching his younger brother while his mother was out. Police made a reverse 911 call telling residents to stay inside and away from their windows, but he missed it. After talking to a neighbor, their mother called the house and told the boys to stay in the basement.

“I was scared because I didn’t know what was going on,” Stella said.

ONLINE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY

4:50 p.m.
The streets have reopened and law enforcement officials are clearing the scene.

4:25 p.m.
Roads are still blocked off as police and DuPage County Coroner's office officials continue their investigation at 92 Hawkins Circle where a man shot himself in the front yard after a neighborhood lockdown Wednesday afternoon.

The body of the man remained in the yard, covered by a sheet at 4 p.m., but has since been taken away by Coroner's Office officials.

4:02 p.m.
The man stood out immediately — walking with a slouch and in blue swim trunks, shirtless and shoeless. Even before he saw the pistol, Andrew Dabisch says he knew something was wrong.

From across the street, Dabisch, 16, and his neighbor, 17-year-old Brian Welker, watched as the man, yet to be identified by police, held the gun to his right temple in a two-hour standoff before fatally shooting himself in the Danada subdivision.

At the beginning of the standoff, the man stood on the front step of a house on Hawkins Circle. He had moved down to sit on the front law, still with the gun to his head, before shooting himself at about 2:45 p.m.

During the deadlock he was flailing his arms, Dabisch and Welker said.

"At one point I actually thought he was dancing; he was moving his body, too," Welker said. "He didn't look angry or anything. He was flailing."

Dabisch said: "He was just flailing his arms as if he was talking to himself or someone else — the cops maybe."

Neither recognized the man from their neighborhood. Dabisch placed the man's age in the late 20s or early 30s.

"He was a little bit overweight, dark hair," Welker said.

Another eyewitness neighbor, 28-year-old Jarrod Mondale, said the man could have been as young as a teenager and described him as having an average build. He added that at some points in the standoff, the man waved the gun around and appeared to be taunting police.

3:02 p.m.
A gunman shot and killed himself after a two-hour standoff with police Wednesday afternoon in Wheaton.

The man, who has not been identified, held a gun to his head on a Wheaton front porch on Hawkins Circle in the Danada East subdivision. Police were in the midst of negotiations and the man had moved down to sit on the front lawn, but he shot himself after becoming increasingly agitated, according to a police source.

2:47 p.m.
A gunman shot himself outside of a Wheaton home Wednesday afternoon. The coroner has been notified.

A police source said before the shooting that the man moved off the porch and was sitting on the front lawn with the gun still to his head.

Theresa Lessick's house is a few doors from the standoff. She was not at home at the time but has talked to her neighbors, and they don't believe the man lives on the street.

"Nobody knows him, as far as we know," she said. "They'd never seen him."
 
2:30 p.m.
Police officials said they are currently negotiating with the armed man who caused a lockdown of the neighborhood around Hawkins Circle and Blanchard Street in Wheaton.

2 p.m.
Police have closed Hawkins Circle and Blanchard Street as they continue to monitor the situation with the armed man. There is no access to these streets, and police are not letting anyone in or out of the area.

A Wheaton police officer said the suspect is an upset man with a gun, wearing blue swimming trunks.

A special weapons and tactics team is on the scene, and Glen Ellyn police are also assisting.

1:44 p.m.
With a man outside reportedly threatening himself with a gun, police are telling people to clear the area and stay indoors.

Kristin Dixon lives on Hawkins Circle about a block from the scene — close enough that she took notice when police and emergency vehicles rushed onto her street. She called Wheaton Police to see if her children in her backyard were safe to stay outside.

"They've got everything locked down," Dixon said. "I was told to bring children inside."

Meanwhile, Georgia Cawley was walking with her husband in Briar Patch Park, part of which abuts Hawkins Circle, when an officer told them to leave because of a police matter, she said.

"We were going for a third lap around," Cawley said. "He just said, 'Leave the park.'"

1:30 p.m.
According to a police official, there is a man with a gun to his head on his front porch on Hawkins Circle, near Blanchard Street in Wheaton.

Police are advising residents to stay in their houses and go to their basements.

We have reporters and photographers on the scene. This story will be updated.