Man armed with bat shot by off-duty CPD officer

An off-duty Chicago cop was involved in a shooting Saturday night in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side. | Network Video Productions, Inc

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - An off-duty Chicago Police officer shot a man who hit him with a bat Saturday night in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said.

The 37-year-old off-duty officer was walking east on Schubert Avenue from Monitor about 10:30 p.m. when he came across an “aggressive male subject” holding his waistband, according to Chicago Police. The officer announced himself and started to pat him down when the man called out to family members.

A 32-year-old man came out of a residence armed with a baseball bat, police said. The officer identified himself again, but the man approached and hit the officer multiple times with the bat.

The officer, who is assigned to the Town Hall District, drew his gun and fired shots at the man with the bat, striking him in the abdomen, police said.

The man was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, according to Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Walter Schroeder. The officer suffered an injury to his arm and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.

The initial suspect the off-duty officer spotted has also been taken into custody, police said.

More than a dozen members of the Chicago Police Department could be seen investigating outside a two-story apartment building at the corner of Schubert and Monitor early Sunday. The intersection was blocked by crime scene tape.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he heard screaming and gunfire in the area.

The Independent Police Review Authority, which handles all police-involved shootings in Chicago, is investigating the incident.