Armed truck driver barricades herself on I-94, shutting down lanes for 3 hours at Old Orchard Road

An armed truck driver from Michigan barricaded herself inside a semitrailer Wednesday morning, prompting a SWAT response that shut down the Edens Expressway for more than three hours.

Troopers were called about 9 a.m. by a trucking company requesting a well-being check on one of its drivers on northbound I-94 at Old Orchard Road, Illinois State Police said in a statement.

Troopers found the 54-year-old driver alone in the semitrailer, pulled over on the right shoulder with a gun in her lap, state police said.

The troopers asked her to leave the truck, but she refused.

SWAT teams and crisis negotiators were called to the scene, and troopers shut down all lanes of the expressway from Old Orchard to Skokie Highway for three and a half hours, state police said.

The driver left the rear of the trailer at 12:20 p.m. and was arrested without incident.

All southbound lanes reopened by 12:55 p.m., while northbound lanes were reopened at 1:12 p.m., state police said.

No charges have been filed against the driver, state police said. The investigation is ongoing.

Some news reports of the arrest identified the truck driver as a man. An Illinois State Police spokesperson was unable to confirm if the driver identified as another gender.

“The press release we have disseminated, reference age and gender, is information we have obtained through legal identification documents,” ISP spokesperson Omoayena V. Williams said in an email. “This legal information is the only information being disseminated; the driver is currently hospitalized.”