AUSTIN — Police shot and wounded a man on the West Side Monday night after he allegedly pointed a gun at officers, police said.
Around 9:40 p.m. Monday, officers were on a "gang suppression mission" in the 1000 block of North Laramie Avenue when they told a man they wanted to speak with him, Chicago Police said in a statement. He ran away, and as officers chased him, police said he ran into a gangway, where he tripped and a gun allegedly fell out of his waistband.
The man then grabbed the gun and pointed it at the officers, according to police, and "as a result of this action" one of the officers shot at him.
The shooting occurred outside the home of Tishay Mason, who said she is the man's ex-girlfriend. She identified him as 23-year-old Pares Harrison, and said the two have a 1-year-old son together.
"He called me before he came, he said he was coming to see the baby, so I opened the back door," Mason said. Minutes later, Mason said, she and her family were startled by 12 gunshots coming from outside their window. She looked out her door and saw a man in a bullet-proof vest sprinting south on Laramie.
She said the man was not in uniform.
"I didn't hear nobody shouting, 'police, stop, freeze,' nothing like that," Mason said. "He just came in and started shooting. He emptied his clip."
Harrison kept running southbound, police said, and jumped into the open window of an apartment unit where a family was living. Police said they later found him there hiding under a bed.
Harrison was taken into custody then sent to an area hospital, the police statement said, and police confiscated his gun.
Neither police nor the Independent Police Review Authority could provide information on the the man's condition, the nature of his gunshot wound or the hospital where he was sent.
After the shooting, Mason said, she found 12 bullet casings, an empty pistol clip and a live bullet strewn along the walkway next to her house. She looked for blood, but found none.
"First they told me he was at the hospital, then they came back and said he wasn't even shot, so I'm sitting here wondering what happened to him," Mason said. "They kept saying, 'We can't release any information.' Now I don't know whether he's in jail or a hospital or what. They won't let me see him."
While she didn't see the shooting as it happened, Mason said she had a hard time believing the police version of events.
"I don't get it, they just shot at him for no reason," Mason said. "He'd never ever bring a gun to this house. And even if he did, there's no way he'd be stupid enough to point it at cops."
She said he was not actively involved in a gang.
"[Police] are just making stuff up, trying to make people think everyone out here is a gangbanger," she added.
No officers were injured in the incident, police said.
The incident is now under investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority, according to the written statement from police.
Tishay Mason's brother, Keyshawn Mason, was also home when the shooting happened.
"It's like police are always running into situations and being all over-the-top, without bothering to actually look and see what's going on," Keyshawn Mason said. "It makes me feel less safe. If I had walked out of the house a couple seconds earlier, it would've been me they were shooting at."
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