Hostage: I talked him out of killing me

WWII veteran tried to save lawyer, had 'long' talk with gunman

Danzig's own life hung in the balance, too. He was being held hostage by Joe Jackson, the man who had just gone on a rampage in the West Loop law firm. Jackson stood inches from Danzig for the better part of an hour, sometimes pointing the same gun at Danzig's head that he'd already used to shoot four people, police said.

Danzig -- a spry, shrewd 81-year-old World War II veteran -- tried to stop McKenna's bleeding by compressing thewound first with a handkerchief and later with a woman's white coat. He also tried to keep Jackson talking in hope of preventing more bloodshed.

"He came behind me, and that's where the standoff was," Danzig said in a Sunday night interview with the Chicago Sun-Times at his Lincolnshire home. "He was right behind me, right next to me."

"I had a conversation with him -- a long one. He was going to shoot me, and I talked him out of it."

Danzig refused to elaborate about his conversation with Jackson, 59, and declined to describe McKenna's wound or his last moments alive.

"I prefer the less said, the easier it will be for his family. It was quite bloody. I don't want to go into detail."

However, Danzig offered an insider's perspective of what happened Friday in the 38th-floor law offices of Wood Phillips, where McKenna rented office space. Armed with a gun, knife and hammer, Jackson stormed the law firm, killing three and wounding a fourth before a Chicago SWAT officer shot him dead.

Danzig arrived at the law office about 1 p.m. to go over work McKenna was doing on a patent Danzig shared with others. Most of the time, Danzig was reading paperwork alone in a conference room near the front desk.

McKenna was back in the conference room with Danzig shortly after 3 p.m. when McKenna was called out of the room by his assistant, Ruth Zak Leib. Moments later, Danzig heard a gun go off on the other side of the wall.

"He got shot. I did not see it. I heard it. I stood up, and I saw him on the floor."

Danzig's military instincts kicked in. In WWII, he was a U.S. Navy pharmacist mate, second class, attached to the 22nd Marines, First Battalion, C Company. He was severely wounded in the Pacific in 1945.

After seeing McKenna, Danzig got on the floor with his lawyer and immediately began shouting for people to bring him towels or anything else he could use to stop the bleeding. All Danzig had on him was a handkerchief.

"The next person I saw was a young lady who gave me her jacket," Danzig said.

As Danzig was trying to help McKenna, he heard more shots.

"The shooting was quick. When I went to McKenna's aid, I heard at least three other shots. Very shortly thereafter, Jackson was behind me."

Danzig praised Chicago Police, who he said were on the scene quickly. A negotiator was talking to Jackson, along with Danzig, for the better part of the crisis.

Danzig said he was within a foot of Jackson when the SWAT officer's bullets pierced Jackson's face and chest. Then, "the SWAT team came in there instantly and pulled me out."

A retired corporate executive, Danzig downplayed his role in the standoff.

"My sympathy goes out to [McKenna's family] and all of the other casualties."