During and immediately after a Friday morning barricade at an apartment building on the 100 block of South Austin, Oak Park police made four arrests in addition to the armed robbery suspect at the center of the standoff.
Commander Len Jorgensen of Oak Park said detectives went to the three-flat around 10 a.m. Friday to question a suspect in at least three recent armed robberies involving a box cutter, the latest of which was reported Thursday night.
When the suspect, Antonio Ray, 39, refused to come out of the building, police called for backup. Residents in nearby buildings were warned by bullhorn not to come out of their homes.
Jorgensen said Ray eventually surrendered to police and that the scene was secured at 11:14 a.m. In lineups over the weekend, Ray was identified by two robbery victims. He was charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery and burglary. Jorgensen said that Ray, who was paroled last year from an Alabama prison on a robbery conviction, has an extensive criminal history in Alabama. Ray was at a bond hearing Monday.
Jorgensen did not release a photo of Ray because police are continuing to contact victims of other recent armed robberies and will be conducting more lineups this week.
Shortly after the Friday standoff began, a man attempted to leave the building. Tyshune D. Tolliver, 29, was detained and searched by police. Tolliver, who shared the second-floor apartment that Ray had barricaded himself in, was found in possession of 14 small bags of marijuana. According to a police report, a later search of the apartment turned up another 69.5 grams of marijuana. Tolliver was charged with felony possession of cannabis with intent to deliver.
After Tolliver’s arrest, police detained and searched Prandle McCorkel Jr., who also was trying to leave the building. According to a police report, that search turned up five bags, for a total of 4 grams, of marijuana. McCorkel was arrested and charged with possession of cannabis.
As police were preparing to leave the building, they arrested two men – Deron D. Hurd, 33, of 4033 W. Cermak, and Anthony L. Ray, 20, of 2025 S. 5th Ave. in Maywood – for assault. According to a police report, the two suspects had made threats with clenched fists against the man whom they said tipped police off to Antonio Ray’s whereabouts.
Anthony Ray, whose relationship to Antonio Ray isn’t known, was paroled from an Illinois prison in April. He was serving time on two drug possession convictions.
