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Police Fatally Shoot Man in Gage Park

By Erica Demarest | April 7, 2014 9:10pm | Updated on April 8, 2014 7:11am
 Police fatally shot Hector Hernandez, 21, in Gage Park Monday, authorities said.
Gage Park Shooting
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CHICAGO — Police shot and killed a knife-wielding man after an altercation in Gage Park Monday, authorities said.

The shooting happened at 6:02 p.m. in the 2500 block of West 50th Street, said Larry Merritt, a spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates officer-involved shootings.

The man was identified as Hector Hernandez, 21, of the 5200 block of South Maplewood Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Pat Camden, a police union spokesman, said officers were to called to a Gage Park home about 5:45 p.m. when a man violated a restraining order.

Camden said officers found the man — who was on probation for domestic kidnapping and domestic battery — standing on the porch with a 2-year-old child and black backpack in his hand.

"He told the officers he's got a gun and he's not going back to jail," Camden said.

At some point, a male relative came out onto the back porch and "an altercation ensued" between Hernandez and the man, according to a police statement. The two men went inside the house, where someone inside was able to take the child from Hernandez's arms, police said.

Hernandez then "gained control of multiple knives and began threatening police and the male relative," according to a police statement.

Police officers tried to use a Taser on Hernandez, Camden said, but the device malfunctioned. Hernandez then grabbed a butcher knife, according to Camden, and threatened suicide before moving toward the officers and another room where the rest of the family waited.

At that point, police opened fire, fatally striking Hernandez, Camden said. Hernandez was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Neither the child nor police officers were injured during the incident, Camden said.