Evanston police were sent to a home in the 1400 block of Wesley Avenue about 7 p.m. Thursday after receiving a call that a man in the house was armed with a gun and was threatening to commit suicide.
The call came from someone who’d been speaking to the man on the phone who said the man, believed to be in his 50s, told him he was armed with a .357 Magnum revolver.
Witnesses say officers surrounded the home with their guns drawn, but police dispatchers were able to call the man on the phone and persuaded him to come out with his hands up about 10 minutes after the incident began.
Cmdr. Joseph Dugan says it turned out there was a replica firearm in the house but no real gun and that the man had been alone in the house.
Dugan says the man was persuaded to go to Evanston Hospital for a psychological evaluation and no charges have been filed.