Chicago shooting: off duty policeman ambushed, shot in Calumet Heights

CHICAGO (WLS) – Chicago police are looking for at least two armed men who ambushed an off-duty policeman and shot him in the abdomen while he was sitting in his jeep in the city’s Calumet Heights neighborhood on Monday.

The officer was stopped at a traffic light on block 8900 on South Stony Island Avenue while he was off duty in his personal vehicle at around 12:21 pm, when the suspects stopped behind and beside the vehicle and shot inside, injuring the officer at the bottom of the trunk. , said Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown.

Shotspotter alerted the tactical teams that responded to the scene and transported the officer to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Doctors said the 32-year-old police officer was operated on Monday afternoon and is now in good condition.

“He remained stable throughout the case, and is currently doing well,” said Dr. Susan Rowell, a trauma surgeon at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Supt. David Brown said that, thanks to the quick actions of three policemen, he was able to get help quickly.

“Without their intervention and quick thinking to transport him as quickly as possible, they put him in surgery and probably saved his life,” said Brown.

WATCH | Supt. Brown speaks after an out-of-service CPD officer shot

“We heard some rumors about a car theft. We don’t know at this point, ”Supt. Said David Brown. “Circumstances suggest several different narratives of what this could be, it could be a misidentification, and it could be road rage, it could be car theft. We just don’t know, it’s too early to say under the circumstances.”

There are several companies in the area that may have captured the incident on surveillance video. Police said they were also looking to see if something was captured by the cameras on the city’s security pod.

“Unfortunately, this event reminds us of the dangers that our officers face every day, whether on duty or off,” said Mayor Lightfoot.

The injured man has been in the department for four years and works in the 4th District. Supt. Brown described him as hardworking and loved by his colleagues.

“It’s been a torrent of offers,” Supt. Said Brown. “We really had to, really put the stop sign because obviously people kept coming, they kept coming.”

This police officer is the second Chicago police officer to be shot and wounded in 24 hours.

On Sunday, a Chicago police sergeant was grazed after being shot in the Gresham police station parking lot.

RELATED: Police Search for Shooting After Sergeant CPD Is Shot Outside 6th District Station

The sergeant suffered a grazing wound and was taken to Christ Medical Center in good condition for treatment, according to authorities. The sergeant was discharged from the hospital on Sunday night.

“It just highlights the dangers. We all need to be aware of our environment. We need to have real consequences for offenders when we capture them,” Superintendent Brown told a news conference on Monday afternoon.

No suspects are in custody. Detectives in area two are investigating.

Copyright © 2021 WLS-TV. All rights reserved.

.Source