‘I had a front row seat’: Witnesses describe sights, sounds of Friday’s FBI-QPD operation at five Quincy locations

QUINCY — A Quincy woman living on the city’s south side woke to her alarm at 6:05 a.m. Friday and considered hitting the snooze alarm one time.

“And then I heard a big boom,” she said. “I was like, that can’t be like a sonic boom. What was that? It literally sounded like somebody was throwing like a grenade.”

When she looked out her bathroom window, she saw approximately a dozen law enforcement officers — several of them from the Federal Bureau of Investigations — on the front lawn of a nearby property. Eventually, a man came out of a home in the 800 block of Sixth Street — between Jefferson and Payson Avenue — and was taken into custody.

“I was shocked,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “It’s kind of cool to watch. I’ve never seen something up so close, and I’m kind of nosy. But at the same time, I was like, oh my gosh. What if they have to kill someone today?”

The Quincy Police Department conducted an operation Friday morning with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at multiple locations in Quincy. 

A tactical operation at the Atrium Hotel on Third, 201 S. Third, started at approximately 6:45 a.m. The FBI also had officers at 730 E. Brennan Drive behind the Quincy Town Center, in the 800 block of York and in the 900 block of Second Street (between Chestnut and Lind) across from Riverview Park.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Boyle with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of Illinois, said Friday morning she could “neither confirm nor deny” the existence of an investigation this morning.

Becky Cramblit, public affairs officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Springfield field office, confirmed the FBI was in Quincy Friday morning “conducting a court-authorized activity.” She said the investigation is ongoing but did not provide any other details.

When the woman near the 800 block of Sixth got out of bed and used her camera to record what was going on, she said she heard someone using what she called “like an intercom” to communicate with people inside the home of the nearby property.

“They’re shouting, ‘Occupants of (house number) South Sixth Street. This is the FBI. Stay away from the windows. We have a warrant. Come out with your hands up.’ I’m like, holy s**t. It was just crazy, insane,’” the woman said. “There were tons of (law enforcement officers). They were posted out with their guns drawn.

“My heart was just, like, beating really fast. I was like, oh my gosh. What in the world is going on? How long is this going to go on for? I was just shocked. I’ve never seen anything so close up and personal like I had a front-row seat. Then the person came out and was taken away.”

Another woman living near the same property said she also was sleeping and then was awakened by a couple of “bangs.”

“I thought it was someone lighting off fireworks,” said the woman, who also asked not to be identified. “So I got up off the couch, and when I went to the door to look out my window, I saw a couple of flashes. I opened the door, and that’s when I heard them yelling, ‘This is the FBI. We have a warrant for you. Step away from the windows or the doors.’

“Then they shot a couple times their smoke bombs or whatever you want to call them. Then I got my phone to record it. … They were yelling at him to come out, and then, boom. And another boom. And I thought, ‘What in the hell?’”

At least 20 officers with the FBI and the Quincy Police Department were at the Atrium on Friday morning. One FBI officer on site called it an “active” situation but offered no other details. Residents were asked to avoid that area. 

A person who asked not to be identified said she saw something being fired into the Atrium this morning, but it was unclear if it was a flash bang or tear gas.

A man living near 730 E. Brennan Drive told Muddy River News that FBI officers were seen outside the home as he was leaving to take children to school.

“They were swarming the house,” said the man, who asked not to be identified. “There were probably about eight or more SUVs, including a military vehicle. I witnessed an officer get out of a big van geared up with a rifle in hand. That’s as much as I saw in person before I left. My wife was at home when they started talking over the speaker that they had a warrant and to open the door.”

The man said the FBI officers were on the scene for about one hour and left around 9 a.m.

A Quincy man living near the 800 block of York, who asked not to be identified, said he was awakened this morning to what he described as the sound of “a transformer exploding.”

“Then I looked out the window, and I saw the silhouette of an SUV and another couple of vehicles parked out there by an apartment that (law enforcement officials) were surrounding,” he said.

The man said several police and FBI vehicles were parked to the north of the Cenex gas station at the northeast corner of Eighth and York.

“Over their speaker system, they were saying something like, ‘The occupants of apartment whatever number, this is the FBI. You’re surrounded. Come out with your hands up,’” the man said. “They said that two or three times, and then I’d say five minutes went by, and then another flash-bang grenade went off. Then they repeated their courtesy wake-up call for the neighborhood, ‘Come out with your hands up.’”

A Friday morning press release issued by the Quincy Police Department said “no further information” would be released.