Ingleside man charged after threatening roommate with knife

INGLESIDE – A 30-year-old Ingleside man has been charged after threatening his roommate with a knife over the use of a microwave, police said.

About 10:15 p.m. Aug. 30, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence in the 24800 block of West Crabtree Lane, Ingleside, for a report of a man threatening a roommate with a knife, according to a news release. Sheriff’s deputies arrived and spoke to the roommate, who said Sebastian Homuth, 30, of the same address, had become enraged that he was using the microwave.

Homuth retrieved a large kitchen knife and began pointing it at his roommate, according to the release. The roommate backed away and ran toward his bedroom, but Homuth chased him with the knife in hand. The roommate was able to get into his bedroom, lock the door and call 911.

The roommate informed sheriff’s deputies that Homuth was still inside the residence. After the evacuation of the other apartments in the building, deputies tried to communicate with Homuth, but Homuth did not respond because he may have fled on foot, police said.

The Lake County Sheriff’s K-9 teams of Deputy Andrew Martini and K-9 Danno and Deputy Matt Savage and K-9 Odin responded to the scene. Danno initially tracked Homuth for more than a mile through the Grant Woods Forest Preserve. While tracking, it is likely that Homuth knew the deputies were getting close, so he called 911 and reported an attack at the opposite end of the forest preserve, police said.

Sheriff’s telecommunicators quickly determined the 911 caller was Homuth. They used their skills to keep Homuth on the phone and talking, so they could narrow in on the location of the phone used to call 911, according to the release.

When Danno and Odin found Homuth, he was argumentative and didn’t initially follow instructions to surrender, police said. Sheriff’s telecommunicators encouraged Homuth to surrender, which he did. Homuth was taken into custody without incident.

Homuth was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, disorderly conduct/misuse of 911 and resisting a peace officer.

“Behind every sheriff’s response is a sheriff’s emergency telecommunicator who goes above and beyond, tirelessly coordinating the response with precision and care,” Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said in the release. “This is the second time in just a couple of days that our sheriff’s telecommunicators and sheriff’s K-9 teams collaborated to apprehend a fleeing suspect in our community. Excellent work to everyone involved.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office thanks the Round Lake Police Department and Lake Villa Police Department for their assistance in the incident.