Police: Deputies persuade suicidal man to drop gun in Ingleside

Lake County deputies with crisis intervention training helped a man making suicidal statements put down his firearm and agree to seek help on Tuesday morning in the northwest suburbs, police said.

At 5:07 a.m., deputies were dispatched to the 34000 block of Gerberding Avenue in Ingleside, according to a statement from the Lake County sheriff’s office.

They arrived to find the man inside a vehicle with a loaded firearm, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies spoke with the man for over an hour and convinced him to go to the hospital for an evaluation and treatment after securing his firearm.

“There is absolutely no doubt, if it weren’t for our personnel being CIT trained, this incident which involved a loaded firearm, could have ended in tragedy,” Undersheriff Ray Rose said in the statement. “Instead of tragedy, this man is now able to receive mental health care and I could not be more proud of those involved and the successful outcome. This is truly what CIT is all about.”