Chicago Police officer shot responding to robbery
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - A Chicago Police officer was shot in the leg Friday afternoon while responding to an armed robbery, and police have arrested one individual in connection with the shooting, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
The shooting happened near 43rd Street and Ashland, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The injured officer, a woman, was expected to be released from Stroger Hospital sometime Friday night.
After responding to a robbery at a T-Mobile store about 1:30 p.m., victims pointed officers in the direction the suspects ran, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson told reporters outside the hospital.
After they got out of their squad car, “one or more offenders” opened fire on the two officers. The female officer — who has been with the department for about 2 1/2 years — was shot in the left leg, Johnson said.
The two officers returned fire, and the wounded officer’s partner was able to chase one of the suspects and take that person into custody in a nearby alley, Johnson said.
A weapon was recovered, “but we’re still trying to make the determination with the ATF whether or not that weapon was involved in the incident,” Johnson said.
Mary Gonzalez, 36, was inside her 3rd floor apartment on Marshfield near 43rd with her three children, ages 7, 8, and 11, at the time of the shooting.
Gonzalez said the neighborhood has been “pretty quiet ” for the last month, but during past summer months she has heard gunfire every day for weeks at a time.
“It’s crazy up here,” she said. “Last year they got my house with an AK-47 like 25 times, but thank God nobody in my house was injured.”
Miguel Carmona, 40, was standing, chatting and eating on the patio of Orale Tacos, where the owner was grilling outside with half a dozen people, when the shots rang out. He said a heard a bullet fly past his head as he ducked.
“I jumped on the floor and dropped my taco,” Carmona said, with translation services provided by a friend who asked not to be named.
The wrought iron fence around the restaurant’s patio was damaged by a bullet. “I’m relieved nothing happened to me,” Carmona said.