Suspect dies Monday after 24 hours on the run
By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
A manhunt for a fugitive whom police described as armed and dangerous ended Monday afternoon in Mount Pleasant some 24 hours after it began – but it did not end peacefully.
The manhunt conducted from late Sunday afternoon to early Monday afternoon canceled school for students in Union Grove and Yorkville on Monday, and led police to advise residents to stay indoors to be safe.
The fugitive, Stantavious Sillas, 20, was captured after citizen tips led investigators to a home near the 5300 block of Taylor Avenue in Mount Pleasant, according to a posting Monday on the Racine County Facebook page.
Arriving officers tracked fresh footwear impressions in the snow, which led them to Sillas at around 1:30 p.m.
He was hiding in some evergreen trees situated on private property adjacent to the roadway, said Mount Pleasant Police Chief Chief Tim Zarzecki. Two Racine city officers and one Mount Pleasant officer were on scene.
“They tried to order him out, but he decided to take his own life,” Zarzecki said.
Sillas reportedly threatened to shoot himself with a handgun he had in his possession when he saw the police arriving, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Officers attempted crisis intervention measures to prevent Sillas from harming himself, but their efforts failed.
Sillas shot himself once in the head, according to Sgt. Eric Relich of the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
Sillas was then rushed to Wheaton Franciscan Hospital and later transported to Froedtert Memorial Hospital in Wauwatosa.
Sillas died around 6 p.m. Monday at Froedtert from his gunshot wound, said Relich.
Sillas was being sought by police after kidnapping a woman acquaintance Sunday from the parking lot of Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center near Waterford, then later firing his gun at sheriff’s deputies searching for him in the Piggly Wiggly shopping center in Union Grove.
After the parking lot shooting, police rescued the woman, whom they reported was unharmed, and they again began hunting for Sillas, combing buildings, backyards, fields and other potential hiding places throughout the Union Grove/Mount Pleasant area.
No shots were fired by law enforcement during the incident and no officers, residents or other citizens were injured during the course of the incident, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
“We’re glad it came to an end in which no law enforcement officers or citizens were hurt. We’re grateful for that,” Zarzecki said.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice – Division of Criminal Investigation was contacted to handle the investigation because the investigation had involved three police agencies, according to Relich. The Wisconsin State Patrol assisted with the investigation as well.
Monday, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling expressed his gratitude to the public for their assistance providing tips that led to Sillas’s apprehension. He called the incident “a fine example of law enforcement working together with one common goal: public safety.”
The Racine County Sheriff’s Office continues to work investigatory leads in the incident.
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