A stretch of the Eisenhower Expressway near Westchester was closed for nearly nine hours Thursday after an unspecified emergency that left at least one person dead, but authorities remained tight-lipped about the circumstances.
Just after 10 a.m., Illinois state troopers came onto an “active incident” on the westbound Interstate 290 between Mannheim Road and the Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294), state police said in a brief statement.
Authorities shut down all lanes of the expressway as multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, assisted on the scene.
In separate statements, the ATF and FBI confirmed the agencies had actively worked on the investigation together with the support of state and local partners. State police in a statement said it was supporting an “active federal investigation into the incident that occurred this morning.” State police said there was no known threat to public safety.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the death of a male of unknown age on the roadway just west of 25th Avenue in Hillside, but provided no other details. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
The expressway was finally reopened just before 7 p.m.
The Tribune’s Tess Kenny contributed to this report.
