Two women taken hostage in Chicago

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Two women were taken hostage inside their Chicago apartment building early Thursday, sparking a police standoff that stretched more than six hours on Thanksgiving morning. The women were being held by at least one unidentified gunman who fired at police at least once, and officers were negotiating with the suspect by phone, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. The standoff in the city's South Shore neighborhood began about 2 a.m. after a call to emergency services about gunshots in the building. The police department's hostage barricade terrorist team responded, and officers surrounded the three-flat building, police said. No injuries were reported, Bond said. She described the female hostages as young adults, but did not know their ages or relationship to the gunman.