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Inmate Fatally Shot After Taking Delnor Hospital Employees Hostage

A Kane County Jail inmate who took two hostages at Delnor Hospital in suburban Geneva was fatally shot during the hourslong incident Saturday, officials said.

The inmate, later identified as Tywon Salters, 21, was pronounced dead at the hospital following the standoff, according to Kane County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Pat Gengler.

Officials said a Kane County SWAT officer was also shot in the vest during the standoff, but was uninjured. A SWAT officer then fired a shot at Salters, fatally striking him, according to Kane Co. State's Attorney Joe McMahon. 

Salters, of Chicago, had been a patient at Delnor since May 8, and had been in Kane County jail since April. He was in custody on charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle from the Elgin Police Department, Gengler said at a news conference.

Authorities said Salters was being treated at the hospital around 12:30 p.m. when he was somehow able to seize a correctional officer’s gun.

He then took a female hospital employee hostage, according to police. That employee was able to escape, but Salters moved to another room on a different floor, taking a second hostage. 

Eventually Salters made his way downstairs into the emergency room area, where he was killed during a confrontation with SWAT officers. 

The incident prompted the hospital to be placed on lockdown for several hours, with Geneva city officials warning the public to "stay out of the area as police deal with this standoff."

"Hostage negotiators and the SWAT team were called in and they began a active negotiation with him," Gengler said after the situation was resolved.

"The SWAT team made the decision to make entry into the room. One of the SWAT team operators did discharge his firearm, striking the inmate and killing him," Gengler continued.

The hostages, both nurses, were able to get out of the situation safely, officials said.

At least one of them remained at Delnor for medical evaluation Saturday, according to Gengler, who said she was with family and was "obviously extremely upset."

The lockdown was lifted early Saturday evening, as the hospital began to take walk-in patients at 6 p.m., with ambulance drop-off scheduled to resume at 8 p.m. [[422177393, C]]

Multiple agencies, including the Geneva Police Department, the Kane County Sheriff's office and SWAT teams, responded to the incident.

Hospital personnel and medics were ready with ambulances to transport anyone coming to the hospital who needed emergency attention during the lockdown, Geneva officials said in a statement.

A patient was in the emergency room when an official came over the intercom and called out a code that meant an active shooter situation, she told NBC 5. She recognized the code as she is a nurse at a different hospital. 

She said a police officer took her and several other patients to a bathroom, where they hid inside the stalls for about 15 minutes.

They were then escorted to a conference room where they stayed for approximately 45 minutes before they were able to leave the hospital.

Further details on how the suspect was able to obtain the officer’s gun were not immediately available, authorities said.

The Illinois State Police is conducting the investigation, which remains ongoing.

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