UPDATE @ 11:45 p.m.: The Cook County Sheriff's Office, in a statement, didn't elaborate on how the hostage situation at the jail was resolved, according to media reports.
“These two detainees created tremendous chaos,” said Cara Smith, chief policy officer.
Officials said the hostage-takers covered the floor with soapy water and obscured the fixed cameras in the housing tier, and eventually ripped the cameras down entirely.
“They used soap from the toilets to create very slippery conditions on the floor in the tier. Our staff retreated for their own protection,” Smith said.
Jail officials say that a flash bomb was used to get into the area where the hostage was being held as he was stabbed in the leg. “One of the detainees went to injure the hostage by stabbing in his leg. Our staff was able to gain entrance using a distraction device,” Smith said.
UPDATE @ 9:55 p.m.: We're hearing the hostage situation at the Cook County Jail has been resolved.
FIRST REPORT
A hostage situation is occurring at the Cook County Jail in Chicago, according to several national and regional media outlets.
Two inmates in a maximum security section have taken a fellow detainee hostage, according to the sheriff’s department.
The standoff began Thursday afternoon when the inmates sabotaged surveillance cameras in a housing tier in Division 10, the sheriff’s office said in an email.
One of 16 inmates who live in the tier was being held hostage by the “two aggressors” with a sharp object.
The sheriff’s Emergency Response Team was on site and working to resolve the situation peacefully, the sheriff’s department said.
No officers have been injured.
