Two police officers were shot early Friday morning in Chicago. The officers were off duty when they went to a restaurant in the Lawndale n...
Two police officers were shot early Friday morning in Chicago.
The officers were off duty when they went to a restaurant in the Lawndale neighborhood on the city’s west side, WBBM-TV reported.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters Friday that the officers had stopped to get something to eat at the Original Maxwell Street around 3:30 a.m.
One officer was in line for food when a gun fell out of the waistband of a man in front of him as he reached into his pocket to pay, police said. The man then picked up the weapon and fired at the officer, WLS-TV reported.
The man then went outside and shot three times into the car where the other officer was, according to police. The suspect then ran off.
“The officer noticed the gun falling out, but before they could take action, the offender grabbed the gun, picked it up and began immediately shooting at the officers,” Brown said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Brown said the officers did not fire shots at the offender.
“They were really ambushed. When the offender dropped the gun, before they could react, he began shooting, so they had no time to react,” he said. “They were wounded and the offender fled, and thank God for that undercover officer nearby and officers were running around after this offender before he could escape.”
The suspected gunman soon was spotted by an undercover officer who had heard the shots, the Sun-Times reported. He was chased and then taken into custody about half a mile from the scene of the incident.
One of the officers was grazed in the face and the other officer was wounded in the leg, the report said. They rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, and their injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Over the radio, one of the officers reported, “I got shot in the head, I got shot in the head. Dropped an extended clip right in front of me, picked it up, shot me, graze wound in the right side of my head and my partner was shot in the leg,” the Sun-Times reported.
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said police expected to charge the suspect with attempted murder of a police officer in the next 48 hours, the report said.
This incident comes amid growing violence and crime in Chicago.
Last year was the city’s deadliest in the past 25 years, WMAQ-TV reported.
Chicago ended 2021 with 797 homicides.
“That is 25 more than were recorded 2020, 299 more than in 2019 and the most since 1996,” the report said. “And there were 3,561 shooting incidents in 2021, which is just over 300 more than were recorded in 2020 and a staggering 1,415 more shooting incidents than were recorded in the city in 2019.”
At the end of the year, Brown addressed the rising crime in his city in a news conference.
“We all know this has been a challenging year here in the city of Chicago. Too many families are reeling from the loss of (loved) ones due to senseless gun violence,” he said, according to WMAQ.
Dozens of police officers were among those who suffered from the violence.
Fox News reported that 76 officers had been shot or shot at in 2021.
The two who were shot while waiting for food Friday are now part of the city’s total of four so far in 2022.
“May the good Lord bless the men and women of the Chicago Police Department. They work tirelessly to risk everything for all of our safety,” Brown said, according to the Sun-Times.
“We should give them a real big ‘thank you’ this morning and please, prayers for them and their families as they go through this process.”
No comments