Man Threatened To Kill Deputies, Fired Gun Repeatedly In Homer Glen SWAT Incident: Police

HOMER GLEN, IL — A Homer Glen man faces charges after he threatened to kill sheriff’s deputies and repeatedly fired a gun in his home, drawing a SWAT team to the area and forcing a shelter-in-place order, authorities said.

Michael Farrell, 52, was arrested on suspicion of reckless discharge of a firearm and aggravated battery of an officer, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded around 7:30 a.m. Sunday to the 16100 block of Twin Oak Court, where a neighbor reported hearing shots fired and breaking glass, and seeing Farrell act erratically, screaming outside, with his hands in the air — appearing to pray, and throwing items in his yard, authorities said.

Arriving deputies heard about 13 shots fired from the home and set up a perimeter, issuing a shelter-in-place order and requesting a SWAT team and crisis negotiators, according to the sheriff’s office.

Shortly afterward, deputies saw Farrell enter a van parked on the property and ordered him to put up his hands and exit, authorities said, adding he got out of the van and walked toward the deputies aggressively, ignoring commands until he was incapacitated by a taser.

As deputies searched him, he pulled away, threatened to kill them and used his shoulders to bump them away, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies put him in the back of a squad car but he kicked at them, hitting one in the wrist and forearm, although they were eventually able to secure him, authorities said.

He was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, discharged Sunday night and brought to county jail to await his first court appearance, authorities said.

Inside the home, law enforcement saw spent shell casings, damage from apparent gunfire, a tan handgun on a counter, two more firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to the sheriff’s office.