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Roberto Andino

Age : 51

Gender : Male

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 09/08/2021

Location : 5952 N Lincoln Avenue

City : Chicago

County : Cook

State : Illinois

Agency : Chicago Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Suicide

Event : Suicide under police duress during SWAT motel standoff

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/08/2021, 51-year-old Roberto Andino died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound during an approximately three-hour Chicago Police Department SWAT standoff at a motel in the 6000 block of North Lincoln Avenue. Andino was being sought by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police as a person of interest in the killing of Janine Sznitko.
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Kenosha police had found Sznitko dead inside her home near 75th Street and 29th Avenue on September 7 after she failed to report to work following Labor Day weekend. Her death was subsequently ruled a homicide. Sznitko's family said she had met Andino at a bar and later became afraid of him. According to her sister, Sznitko had told family members that if anything happened to her they should look for Andino.
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Kenosha police issued a public alert seeking Andino as a person of interest. The investigation subsequently led authorities to Chicago, where Andino was located at the Lincoln Avenue motel. Chicago police responded at approximately 1:10 p.m. after Andino barricaded himself inside a room. CPD's SWAT team was called to the scene.
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Police surrounded the motel while Andino remained barricaded inside. Investigators never interviewed him concerning Sznitko's killing. After the standoff continued for approximately three hours, SWAT officers used a key to enter the motel room and found Andino dead from a gunshot wound that police reported was self-inflicted.
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No Chicago police officer was reported to have fired a weapon during the standoff. Chicago police opened a death investigation, while Kenosha police announced that they were no longer searching for Andino because he had been located dead in Chicago.
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The case is included as a suicide under police duress because Andino died by suicide while surrounded by police during an active SWAT barricade and attempted apprehension.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Chicago Police Department SWAT personnel involved in the standoff have not been publicly identified.
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At the time of Andino's death, CPD was operating under a federal court-enforced consent decree resulting from the Justice Department's finding that the department had engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional force. The Justice Department identified systemic deficiencies in training, de-escalation, supervision and accountability that contributed to unnecessary and avoidable uses of force.
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CPD's SWAT practices were themselves under specific scrutiny in 2021. In February 2021, Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability issued an advisory letter concerning the SWAT team after investigating a search-warrant operation. COPA identified concerns about SWAT record destruction and retention and reporting practices that it said contradicted CPD's own procedures and potentially violated legal obligations.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/swat-team-responds-to-barricade-situation-at-pulaski-park-hotel
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/lincoln-avenue-motel-standoff/
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2021/9/9/22665464/roberto-andino-killed-self-swat-standoff-pulaski-park-hotel-suspect-kenosha-murder-janine-sznitko
https://www.fox6now.com/news/kenosha-suspicious-death-ruled-homicide-suspect-found-dead-in-chicago
https://www.facebook.com/Kenoshapolice/posts/kpd-can-confirm-that-we-are-no-longer-searching-for-our-person-of-interest-rober/10159365772447207/
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/9/8/22663188/swat-team-responds-barricade-situation-pulaski-park-hotel
https://www.chicagocopa.org/press/copa-submits-first-advisory-letter-of-2021-to-chicago-police-department-regarding-special-weapons-tactics-team-swat-following-the-execution-of-a-search-warrant/
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/justice-department-announces-findings-investigation-chicago-police-department