Chicago officer shot in vest, gunman wounded in pursuit

Author: TFB Staff

By Katie Galioto Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer was injured when he was shot in the back of his protective vest during a confrontation in the Gresham neighborhood that left the officer’s attacker wounded, police said.

The shooting happened about 11 a.m. Tuesday in the 8700 block of South Marshfield Avenue, police said.

An officer approached a man in his early 20s on the corner of 87th Street and Ashland Avenue who was acting suspiciously, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where the officer was being treated and had been stabilized. The man took off running and fired at officers as they pursued him.

Police returned fire and struck the suspected gunman in the neck. One officer was struck in the back, with the bullet hitting right on the letter “e” in the word “police” on his protective vest, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at the news conference.

The injured officer was “a little bit bruised up” but expected to make a full recovery, Johnson said. The suspected gunman was hospitalized at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, initially in serious to critical condition.

The shooting incident comes a day after three people, including Chicago police Officer Samuel Jimenez, were shot to death at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center. The man believed responsible for the shooting was found fatally shot in the hospital.

Despite the “horrific” events of Monday, Johnson said officers across the city suited up Tuesday morning to do what they do each day.

Police “weren’t slowing down, they weren’t pulling back,” Emanuel said. “Even after last night, they were out doing their jobs.”