MAN SHOT DEAD BY POLICE AFTER N. W. SIDE STANDOFF
A man was fatally shot by Chicago Police officers Sunday morning in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
About 11 a. m., the man’s parents went to the 25th District police station to report a domestic situation, Chicago Police Deputy Chief Al Nagode told reporters at the scene.
The woman told officers that her family member was armed with a weapon, and she feared for her family’s safety, according to a preliminary statement from Chicago Police.
Officers arrived at the 2700 block of North Leclaire Avenue and spoke to the man, who was holding his girlfriend and her child against their will in an apartment, Nagode said.
The officers got the woman and her child out of the apartment, but the man was uncooperative, Nagode said.
A SWAT team was called to the scene, and when they arrived, the man left the house and fired a shot at the officers before running north on Leclaire, Nagode said. He ended up on a roof in the 5000 block of West Wolfram. His weapon discharged when he jumped down from the roof, and then he fired again at the officers.
Officers fired five shots, striking the man, Nagode said. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
No officers were injured, police said.
Gilberto Morales, 62, was working in his garage at the corner of Le claire and Wolf ram when he heard a gunshot and saw police officers running. He grabbed his iPhone and went to the front of his house where police had the man cornered on the back porch of a home across the street.
“I started recording [ on Facebook Live] to get a few likes,” Morales said.
Morales filmed the standoff and narrated when he heard a gunshot followed by five more. His heart was beating hard, and his hands were shaking as he filmed.
“I thought it was exciting,” he said.
When Morales learned the man died, his feelings about recording the video changed.
“I had to take amoment of silence,” he said. “He’s a person, he’s a human being, he has family. I don’t know how to feel about it now.”
His neighbors, including Linda and Louis Ramirez, said their neighborhood is quiet, with many families with kids living in the surrounding blocks.
“I can’t think of anything like this happening in the 21 years we’ve lived here,” Linda Ramirez said. “We’re all watching out for each other in this area.”
The Independent Police Review Authority, which handles all police- involved shootings, is investigating. The officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days.