A man shot two Chicago police officers and police returned fire during a traffic stop on the West Side, police said early Sunday.
The officers, both men, were taken to Stroger Hospital. Doctors were able to stabilize the officers’ wounds and as of Sunday afternoon, one officer remained in serious condition and the other officer had been upgraded to good condition, according to Officer Ana Pacheco, a police spokeswoman. One was shot in the chest and arm; the other just in the arm.
Numerous police officers gathered outside the hospital into the early morning. Chicago police could not confirm if either officer had been discharged.
The shooting happened when the officers pulled someone over in the 3300 block of West Polk Street in the city’s Homan Square neighborhood about 2:35 a.m., said Officer Guadalupe Sanchez, a police spokesman.
The officers, part of a summer mobile unit assigned to target hot spots of violence in the city, stopped the vehicle because it matched the description from a call about a “person with a gun,” police said in a statement.
At one point before the shooting, the officers asked for help because the person in the car, who had a gun, had locked the door of the car.
“Can you roll us one more car over here to, ah, Polk and Homan?” one of the injured officers was heard asking a dispatcher.
“I made a traffic stop … an individual’s in the vehicle locked himself in the car — he’s got a firearm in the car,” the officer said.
Seconds later, the stop took a grim turn. Officers who arrived to provide backup called a 10-1, which is an emergency call for an officer needing assistance. The officers said a struggle ensued and shots had been fired and multiple officers were down after attempting to arrest the suspect.
“Shots fired! 10-1!’ an officer screamed. “Shots fired! Shots fired!”
“Two officers down. Offender down,” another assisting officer told the dispatcher.
The suspect, who fired multiple rounds at officers, also had his injuries stabilized but remained in serious condition at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, police spokesman Tom Ahern said.
It was not clear which officer shot the suspect, but the suspect’s gun was found on the scene, police said.
A media staging area was set up outside the emergency room of Stroger Hospital, where a news conference was held. Police Superintendent David Brown also briefed a large group of officers on the situation.
Details, including a “comprehensive use of force investigation,” will be sought by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the Police Department.
Per protocol, the officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days.
reporter Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas contributed.
