AURORA, Ill. -- An hours-long standoff with an armed patient at a suburban Chicago hospital Saturday ended with the gunman dead of a gunshot wound, according to authorities who also said they were uncertain of the source of the fatal shot.

The 58-year-old Aurora man, whose identity was not released by authorities, died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli first said the man, after refusing to surrender for 4 1/2 hours, opened the door to his room at Provena Mercy Medical Center and fired one shot at police. He said police returned fire and, after hearing no further sounds, entered the room and found the man dead.

However, Aurora police chief William Powell later said it wasn't clear if gunfire had been exchanged between the man and police.

Authorities were first called to the scene on a report of an "unruly patient," Powell said.

The first officer to reach the floor where the man had barricaded himself reported the man said he wanted police to shoot him.

"He indicated that more than once," Powell said.

At one point, food was placed outside the door of the man's room. The man opened and closed the door several times before he opened the door and pointed a gun at police, who opened fire, Powell said.

Police also fired tear gas before entering the room and finding the man dead on the floor.

Ferrelli later said the preliminary information he released at the onset of the incident proved to be inaccurate once investigators had time to take a closer look at what happened.

Provena Mercy CEO Bill Brown refused to release any information about the dead patient, citing patient confidentiality laws.

Before the fatal shooting, a 71-year-old male patient was briefly held in the hospital room where the armed man was holed up, but he was released after police intervened. Authorities relocated 26 other patients on that floor to other areas of the hospital.

The incident began around 8:30 a.m. Saturday when hospital security officers alerted a patrol officer at the hospital to a combative patient. The officer cleared the hallway, drew her service weapon and peeked into the man's room, according to authorities.

The officer saw the man point the handgun at her and heard him threaten to harm himself and police officers, authorities said.

The hospital was locked down at the start of the incident, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facility about 30 miles west of Chicago.

"Patient care and safety was never interrupted or compromised and things are back to normal at our hospital right now," Brown said Saturday evening.

Hospital officials plan to review its security policies, Brown said, pointing out the facility is a "quasi-public institution and building where people come and go" and can never be as secure as an airport.