Bank robbery suspect shot dead by Chicago cop in Archer Heights
CHICAGO (FOX 32/Sun-Times Media Wire) - A Chicago cop fatally shot a bank robbery suspect after a chase that ended in the backyard of a Southwest Side home Monday morning in the Archer Heights neighborhood.
The man allegedly robbed a branch of Byline Bank at 4970 S. Archer Ave. at about 10:30 a.m.
“Eighth District officers responded to a holdup alarm,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said at a news conference near the scene of the shooting.
“As they responded a security officer from the bank was in pursuit of a suspect to a just-committed armed robbery at the Byline Bank. A short foot pursuit ensued. The officers chased the subject down a gangway at which time the subject turned towards the officers with a weapon. One of the officers discharged his weapon, striking the offender.”
Michael D. Johnson of the 5500 block of West 63rd Place was pronounced dead at 11:37 a.m. at Mt. Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy showed he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
A handgun was recovered from the scene, according to a statement from police News Affairs.
FBI agents are investigating the robbery, and IPRA is investigating whether the use of deadly force was justified, Johnson said. The officer involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days, which is standard protocol going forward for all police-involved shootings, according to the statement from police.
Johnson added that man is suspected of robbing a different branch of the same bank on Saturday at 63rd and Austin. Johnson said the suspect matched the description of the previous bank robber, including a pair of “distinctive shoes.”
Ricardo Banuelos was doing some rehab work in a home nearby when the suspect was shot.
"So I listened, like four shots, and I was scared because I didn't know what happened. All the police were here with the guns," Banuelos said.
Edwards Elementary School, located about a block from the shooting, went into lockdown during the incident.
As the shooting unfolded in the back yard, a husband and wife were inside the home.
The wife, who asked not to be named, was in the shower and did not hear gunshots. “My husband told me when I got out. He said he was on the computer and heard two shots,” she said.
She looked out the window and saw the body of a man she did not recognize lying in her yard with two gunshot wounds to his chest. A bag with shoulder straps lay next to his body.
A neighbor across the alley heard gunshots and checked on his girlfriend and son before walking into the alley to see what had happened.
“I asked one of the police officers if everything was OK, and he seemed kind of shaken up and said ‘Everything should should be OK now,’” the neighbor said.
The shooting is the second Chicago Police-involved shooting in three days. On Friday morning, another suspected robber was shot by a Chicago Police officer in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized.