UPDATED: Hostage Standoff Hoaxer Apprehended at Beggars Pizza
A five-hour hostage standoff Thursday night was exposed as a hoax when police discovered the man thought to be in the home was really sitting at a bar talking on a cell phone.
Photos
For further details, please read a followup on Oak Forest Patch.
Updated 11:18 p.m.
Oak Forest police have arrested Mark Fitch outside of Beggars Pizza. After being transported to the police department, he was taken to a hospital, where he will receive a mental evaluation. More details as they emerge.
Updated: 10:30 p.m.
After five hours of what was purported to be a hostage situation, police blasted 5544 Babette Court with tear gas and stormed in, but the man believed to have barricaded himself inside, Mark Fitch, was not at home. He was in a bar stringing police along on his cell phone.
"This was an elaborate hoax," said Mayor Hank Kuspa.
The first call came at 4 p.m. this afternoon, when a friend reported that Mark Fitch was intoxicated and threatening bodily harm to himself.
"The cost of this little hoax, from this gentleman, was tens of thousands of dollars," Kuspa said. "It's unconscionable to me how someone could think this was funny in this economy."
After clearing the home, police went after Fitch.
About a dozen neighbors were evacuated from their homes in the early evening as police from throughout the south suburbs descended on the neighborhood. Units from Hazel Crest, Homewood, Tinley Park, Chicago Heights and nearby areas responded. Emergency vehicles lined Central Avenue on both sides.
South Suburban Emergency Response Team members set up outside the home.
Kuspa told Patch that he was alerted to a "potential hostage situation" and came to the scene. People weren't allowed into their homes for five hours as police talked to Fitch, 44, believing he was holed up inside. The neighborhood episode did not end until shortly after 10 p.m. when police moved in.
There was concern that explosives could be inside the home. Fitch is known in the neighborhood for shooting off fireworks, according to neighbors.
Oak Forest police, some armed with rifles, about 4 p.m. cordoned off an area from 159th Street to 163rd Street and from Central Avenue to Long Avenue and evacuated local residents in the vicinity of Lagoon Park.
The man's mother and brother reportedly were called to the scene, and were being held at Standard Bank nearby.
The area is across the street from the George W. Dunne Golf Course.
Resident Raymond Sauerbier, of 5537 Babette Court, lives on the same cul-de-sac as the home in question, and was unable to reach his home because of the barricade.
Residents were being let into their homes late Thursday night.
Tinley Park police assisted by answering calls in the western half of Oak Forest. Homewood also was called in. An officer earlier was sent to 163rd and Long to disperse about 40 kids playing lacrosse in a local park.
Leanne Youngblood
6:53 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
My friend Matt Murrin took these pics!!!!
Robin Randall
7:16 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
Nice local reporting. This was the only place I was able to get real information about this.
Rob K
8:48 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
She's the best
Sara
9:37 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
Alex Perez from channel five was there, check it out tonite to see if its on.
Darren McRoy
10:03 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
Jeez, I wonder if it's that place where I bought something from a yard sale once... it was right across the street from George Dunne...
Joan Bravo
10:42 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
This idiot needs to be locked up for a long time and have to pay for all of the police at the scene. People were worried about what could happen and so many police resources were pulled off the street. What a jerk!
Sue1
10:46 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
Why are you saying he is a jerk? I don't see anywhere that it has been reported that he even knew what was going on?
amanda u
10:42 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
I love oak forest patch best updates ever only place to get some real info
Janice Sheppard
10:44 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
Thanks for keeping us updated on this, I got more information from you then on regular TV. Great Job!
Sue1
10:45 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
If this is a hoax, they better find out who made that call and charge them for all that manpower.
mari mena
11:49 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
hello|| He was on phone with police for hours while getting drunk. Did he know what was going on? Duh...Losing
Jim Peterman
10:55 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
They dispursed the Lacrosse kids??? Practice was over and everyone was going home anyway. Sure did take them a long time to decide to clear the area filled with children. Sure did take them a long time to figure out nobody was in the house. Way to go guys. Some things need to be worked on I think.
Chap
11:48 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Another armchair quarterback, talking smack. What would be your solution?
kim
11:12 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
i know we do not pay our police officers 10,000 for 5hours work so mayor where was all that money spent? obviously the man has some serious problems. jail is not always the answer.
Baba Wawa
11:43 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
No, we don't pay our officers $10,000 for five hours' work. But we do have to pay well in excess of $10,000 for all the overtime for officers that were supposed to go off duty in addition to other departments that were called in to assist; that's not free. Tinley Park took calls for that section of Oak Forest; that's not free for Tinley Park or Oak Forest. There was equipment, fire trucks, ambulances idling burning fuel as well as wasting time. That's not free. There were emergency management personnel to direct traffic and close streets; that's not free. You think all this is magic and it's free?
Dave
8:48 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
It is true that we do not pay our officers that amount of money individually, but between calling in all the additional resources, mutual aid, and specialty units along with the overtime, that is where the cost adds up quickly. Also, as Ted noted, fuel is not free either. It is not one big ticket item, but when you call in multiple resources, costs add up.
A good analogy is currently Easter is coming up. The main meal, maybe a pork roast or some other meat isn't that much by itself, but when you add up all the vegetables and other side dishes to serve to the family the costs rise. Then you also add in the cost of your time cooking the meal and the natural gas used on the stove/oven.
If you are wondering why extra resources were involved, it was because of the probability that firearms were involved and explosives from reports from neighbors that this guy has a vast quantity of fireworks. All you need to do is step back and look at the whole picture to grasp the extensiveness of the resources involved.
Scanner
11:54 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
Whaaat?!!! Nobody at Beggar's noticed that fool?
Enrique
11:55 pm on Thursday, April 21, 2011
If he used a cell phone with gps, and he was there and not at home. Oh well for all the new police technology being used during such a crisis.
Jim Peterman
12:17 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Yes I think that if they had suspicions that nobody was home they should have investigated more in where the call came from. I don't know if it is that simple but if it is, lots of time watching a empty house could have been avoided. I think (and hope) things are learned from today.
Dave
8:52 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
GPS can be turned off on your cell phone at the cellphone end if you don't want that tracking. How can you tell nobody is home? If you don't want to be seen inside of your own house, you can hide very easily because you know your own house the best.
Shanna
2:13 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
For the record...this man (who we have never seen before) was at Beggars for less than 10 minutes before we informed the police. As far as we knew, the hostage situation was still going on. We didn't have any information on it being a hoax at that time. We should all be thankful that nobody was injured.
Thanks Beggars!
Lauren Traut
3:47 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Thank you, Shanna. No one is blaming Beggars. A lot of details still need to be cleared up. But initial reports show he was at a bar, communicating with police via cell phone. A lot of facts will become clear tomorrow.
Paula Beahan
7:26 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Great reporting, Lauren!
Joe
8:21 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Thank You to the police and responce teams that Hoax or not would put themselves in harms way to make me and my surrounding nieghbors safe,I filmed the events with a portable camera and it was carried out with safety as the highest regard. Thank You
Leslie Fuller Knox
9:19 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Watching FoxChicago last night and they were quoting Oak Forest Patch... way to go Bob & Lauren!
George Slefo
9:48 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Such an awesome story. Love the featured pic too =P
David B
10:28 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
LMFAO!!!! Look at it from this perspective! The guys obviously not playing with a full deck. So,,, write it off as a live training session!
mari mena
11:51 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
and where can we send you the bill for this "training session"?
Special K
12:31 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
I agree.... Hilarious!!
Police Academy episode 1
Lauren Williamson
11:07 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Really fantastic reporting job, Lauren! Way to go!
Robin Randall
11:12 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Looking forward to any updates on the situation today, if there are any.
Scanner
11:28 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Irony. The hostage negotiator should have been suspicious when a request for pizza wasn't made! Jay leno can do the punch line here....
Rob K
11:29 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
+1. Funny!
Lauren Traut
11:52 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
Hello, folks. Please be patient as we update this story with more information throughout the day today. It's important to note that we just spoke with Deputy Police Chief David DeMarco, who stated that although Mayor Kuspa called it a hoax, police are unsure if there is enough evidence to support that phrase. We will be working on this throughout the day, and we'll update you as soon as more information becomes available. Thank you for reading.
Lauren Traut,
Oak Forest Patch Editor
frank
11:54 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
There must be a lot of sore shoulders today. Everyone slapping each other about such a swell job done in Oak Forrest.
On Channel 9 they show the Mayor and police spokesman telling us that they are going to get their
huge sum of wasted money back. They are fools for prolonging this fiasco.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Chap
10:38 am on Monday, April 25, 2011
Were you there? Have you ever had to deal with that type of situation? It's real easy to make a judgement from the comfort of your home when you don't have all the facts. God gave you two ears and one mouth. Seems to me the ears take precedence over the mouth, so stop spewing and listen. However if you have a better idea, I'm sure the police will gladly listen because it sure seems like you are the man with the answers. What time would you like to set up training for?
Brenda Sullivan
12:17 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
Nice job Lauren!
Lauren Traut
12:34 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
Brenda, I cannot thank you and Jim enough, for allowing me to work from your living room. You enabled my reporting and ability to update readers as frequently and as thoroughly as possible. I appreciate it greatly.
Robin Randall
12:32 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
Please note the very important difference between hearsay and opinion, and thoughtful journalism that brings out the actual facts of the case. In this day of internet opinion run rampant, real journalism needs to come back in a big way. Thanks Lauren for doing a great job in our community.
Lauren Traut
2:51 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
It's my pleasure, Robin. Glad to help.
Unknown
5:02 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
Look, the Oak Forest police had to respond to a call for a man with a gun, they have protocalls for this type of situation and acted accordingly. The events that folowed were brought on by a jerk neighbor that made the police believe there may have been explosives in the house. I am a close freind of Mark and never knew him to have a gun in the first place.
Who called the police and reported him having a gun?? That moron is really the one responsible for the whole fiasco. Also, I personally attempted to reach Mark on his phone, he wasn't answering. The whole story is being blown up by a bunch of idiots who don't know what they are talking about, and getting their information from the media that used any bit of information to make up a story. These idiots saw Mark's motorcycle and started to report he was a Hells Angel. Blame the media, they turned this into what it was.
Baba Wawa
7:10 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
It was never clear exactly what this neighbor was alleged to have seen. Did Fitch brandish some gun at this neighbor? He threaten him/her with it? And then did he tunnel his way out of the house and over to Beggars Pizza?
And some other female neighbor mentions it to the police as an aside "Oh by the way, he likes fireworks on the 4th of July." Really? I do, too!
Major case of a jerk neighbor (or someone) crying wolf.
frank
7:24 pm on Friday, April 22, 2011
Good comment KOPPEL
Wally
11:38 am on Saturday, April 23, 2011
Is is true that this was a false police report and now this person will be getting a lawyer to sue the city and Mayor Kuspa? Seems like the Mayor and the Deputy Chief are really not on the same page right now. Can you update us on the new status?
frank
3:59 pm on Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friends from California think they live in a pretty civilized city after reading about this Oak Forrest
fiasco.
Da mayor and da Chief have had their say. Can't wait to see their press conference when they collect the tens of thousands of dollars they feel they have coming from their over zealous police reaction. Yes, we
know the next few words,
"It's better to have erred..."
Spike
10:39 pm on Saturday, April 23, 2011
Does anyone know where this guy grew up?
Concerned
5:26 pm on Sunday, April 24, 2011
What makes the difference where he grew up? I'm a personal friend of Mark as well - you're not getting the whole story - so let's stop the speculation. The media has made him out to be some "strange" person - I can assure you he's not.
Sarah
8:08 am on Monday, April 25, 2011
Well I can say first hand that the media definately blew this out of proportion.
I am the neighbor who supposively said I had "problems with Mark"... I NEVER said that! I met him ONCE since moving there and the one time I DID meet him, he offered to do our electric!
The article the Southtown wrote was all false!
Chap
11:01 am on Monday, April 25, 2011
To all of you Expert crime fighters: Were you there? Have you ever had to deal with that type of situation? It's real easy to make a judgement from the comfort of your home when you don't have all the facts. God gave you two ears, two eyes and one mouth. Seems to me the ears and the eyes take precedence over the mouth, so stop spewing, then look and listen. However if you have a better idea, Submit it in writing. Please include: The date and time you would like to set up training for, A tactical plan on how to completely establish that a house is vacant. Please deliver all this to the Oak Forest Police Department in person.
frank
11:03 am on Monday, April 25, 2011
This is the fourth update you have sent this morning. As I stated before, let's get on with something else.
Nothing new.