Chicago police officer fatally shoots person in Bronzeville shootout
A Chicago police officer fatally shot a person Wednesday evening in a shootout in the South Side Bronzeville neighborhood, police said.
Officers on a narcotics mission chased a suspect who ran away from them about 8: 10 p. m. in the 300 block of East 47th Street, according to CPD Sgt. Rocco Alioto.
During an exchange of gunfire, an officer shot the person, Alioto said. Paramedics initially took the critically wounded person to a hospital, where he died. It wasn’t clear how many times or where on his body he was shot, and the Cook County medical examiner’s office hadn’t released details about the death. His age also wasn’t known.
A sergeant involved in the incident wasn’t shot but suffered a possible broken ankle while trying to hop a fence.
A gun was recovered at the scene, Alioto said.
The officer involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative duty for 30 days, per department policy. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating the shooting.
Joseph Lambus said he was at a shop when the shooting happened.
Patrol officers stopped by once and shooed away most of a group of young men who were hanging out on the southwest corner of 47th and Prairie, Lambus said.
But the officers came back and tried to stop one man, about 24, who appeared to be holding a blunt, Lambus said.
One officer chased the man as he darted down an alley, according to Lambus, who said he heard the man trying to jump a fence, followed by about five gunshots.
A heated group of about two dozen neighborhood residents walked past crime scene tape just north of 47th.
About 10 officers confronted them, pushing the group back and deploying at least one stun gun. No one was hit.
A woman who identified herself as the ex- mother- in- law of the person shot claimed police officers had laughed after the shooting.
“If it’s not the muggers, it’s the police officers who get you out here. Nobody’s safe,” she said.