PEKIN — A former Pekin police officer apparently shot himself in his apartment early Monday, which prompted a highly armed police response but no further incidents.

The man, identified by police later Monday as Joseph Wagle, 41, was conscious with a gunshot wound to the head when police removed him from his north side residence, the Police Department stated in a news release.

He underwent surgery later Monday at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, but a condition report was not available.

Wagle resigned from the Police Department in 2014, Deputy Chief Don Baxter said. Wagle joined the department in 2006.

Police required about five hours to reach and recover Wagle after three shots were heard at about 2 a.m. in Building 5 of Colonial Village Apartments, off the 1200 block of Veerman Street.

Wagle lives in the second-floor apartment with his mother.

“She was there initially. We got her out,” but police remained unsure if the man still inside was conscious, Police Chief John Dossey said.

Officers evacuated the two-story building and, for their safety, approached the situation as a standoff with an apparently armed man, Baxter said.

The Central Illinois Emergency Response Team of specially trained and armed officers responded. Wagle did not respond to verbal calls or to the several gas canisters that were shot through the apartment’s front windows.

A remote-controlled, camera-equipped robot was deployed into the apartment.

“We could see him, but we couldn’t see his hands” to learn if he was holding a weapon, Baxter said.

Said a neighbor, Zashaun Gist: “They said, ‘Joe, we see you in there. Come out. We just want to make sure you’re OK.' There was no movement, no nothing.”

Officers eventually entered the apartment and removed Wagle on a stretcher.

Gist said he had heard gunshots in the vicinity of the apartments about 9 p.m. Sunday but was awakened by more gunfire about 2 a.m. Monday.

The apartments are located across Veerman Street from Willow Primary School. Each two-story building in the complex appears to contain at least four units.

About 8:30 a.m., yellow crime-scene tape was draped in front of Building 5. The window frame of the second-story, upper-right apartment was askew.

Immediate neighbors were evacuated to a nearby church. Gist resides in an apartment building in an adjacent complex.

“Our first issue was to make sure the public was safe and to bring the incident to a safe resolve,” Dossey said.

At least six people milled in the apartments parking lot, but all declined comment.

Gist watched from a driveway that leads to the parking lot. He said occasional illegal-drug activity took place in the area, but nothing this violent.

“It’s just crazy, man,” Gist said.