WHEATON, Illinois (AP) -- A gunman who took a dozen hostages in a suburban Chicago bank after wresting a gun from a police officer Friday died after shooting himself in the head, police said.



Hostages were released Friday after a gunman killed himself in suburban Chicago, police say.



The standoff began around 1:30 p.m., after a Wheaton police officer responded to a call of a hit-and-run accident near the bank.



When the officer arrived, the suspect grabbed the officer from behind, held a knife to his throat and demanded his gun, Deputy Chief Thomas Meloni said.



During an ensuing struggle, the officer was cut on a forearm and the suspect was able to take the gun and run the lobby of the Wheaton Bank & Trust, where he ordered everyone to the floor, Meloni said.



Police in Wheaton, about 20 miles west of Chicago, did not immediately release the gunman's identity.



As officers evacuated nearby businesses and homes and shut down streets and rail service, hostage negotiators talked to the gunman by phone. They were able to persuade him to release 10 hostages, leaving two behind, Meloni said.



"At one point the suspect began to close the blinds from inside the bank and he disconnected the phone contact with the hostage negotiators," Meloni said.



Shortly afterward, about 4:15 p.m., officers heard a single gunshot and they rushed in, Meloni said. He said the man was dead of a single gunshot wound to the head.



A spokeswoman for Central DuPage Hospital, Amy Steinbruecker, said the hospital treated and released the police officer who scuffled with the suspect for minor injuries.



Television footage showed dozens of people running from the four-story bank building, which includes other businesses, with their hands above their heads.



"We locked our office door, turned off the lights, drew the blinds," said Donna Price, 52, of McHenry, who works in the office building. "Then we heard a knock on the door and it was a SWAT guy. He told us to get out right now.



"I said, 'Let me get my purse.' He said, 'No, now."'



Price said police held people in a stairwell of the building before ordering them out.



"We all had to put our hands up on the back of our heads and run," Price said from a convenience store across the street where more than 100 people were crowded.
What did the gunman do? What was the suspect found with? What did the suspect do? Who shot the suspect? Did the officer survive?
took a dozen hostages single gunshot wound to the head. took a dozen hostages in a suburban Chicago bank shooting himself in the head, hospital treated and released the police
question: What did the gunman do?, answer: took a dozen hostages | question: What was the suspect found with?, answer: single gunshot wound to the head. | question: What did the suspect do?, answer: took a dozen hostages in a suburban Chicago bank | question: Who shot the suspect?, answer: shooting himself in the head, | question: Did the officer survive?, answer: hospital treated and released the police