LITTLE VILLAGE — A nine-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department was shot while chasing a group of men in Little Village Monday afternoon, police said.
Around 4:15 p.m., the officer was in his squad car with a partner when they noticed three suspicious-looking men near the 2300 block of South Trumbull Avenue, Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said at a news conference outside Stroger Hospital.
The officers approached the men, who tried to run away, Johnson said. One of the men fired and hit the officer in his right shoulder, he said.
Chicag Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said the officer shot in Little Village is a nine-year veteran of the police force. [DNAinfo/Joe Ward]
The officer was taken to Stroger Hospital. Police did not release the officer's condition, but he was listed as "stable," said Officer Kevin Quaid.
Police arrested the shooter and collected a gun from the scene, Johnson said. The shooter was hit with a stun gun by police, Johnson said. Charges are pending for the man, he said.
Officers are looking for the two other men who got away from police, Johnson said.
Johnson said the latest shooting of an officer underscores the everyday dangers police face.
"This is an example of officers being proactive, doing what they're asked to do," Johnson said. "We really have to do something with the weapons on the street."
Another officer was cut on his hand while trying to catch the shooter, Quaid said.
Police closed off several blocks near the scene of the shooting, and a mobile command center was parked at the end of an alley near 24th Street and Trumbull Avenue.
The commotion brought out scores of neighbors, most of whom did not know what happened. Some neighbors said they heard one loud gunshot, while others said they heard three shots.
Tanaydi Zarco left her mom's house on Homan Avenue to find her car windows smashed by a brick. At the same time, she saw police swarming toward the end of her block as officers began putting crime tape around the scene.
Zarco said her younger sister had just arrived home and told her about her damaged car windows, right after the officer was shot less than a block away.
"She got home seconds before whatever happened down there happened," Zarco said. "Thank God."
Zarco's car's windshield was cracked, and a back window was completely shattered. Police inspected her car and asked her what she knew about the shooting, Zarco said.
She said she told them she didn't know anything it.
Zarco said she also doesn't know what happened to her car, but said it's possible the people who shot at police also tried to break into her car.
"They might be," she said about the two incidents being related. "Police don't know. I'm pretty sure they're more interested in what happened down there, anyways."
CPD officer shot in shoulder during foot pursuit of armed suspect @ 2350 blk S TRUMBULL. Supt Johnson will give update at Stroger Hospital
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) April 25, 2016
CPD officer shot in shoulder during foot pursuit of armed suspect @ 2350 blk S TRUMBULL. Supt Johnson will give update at Stroger Hospital
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) April 25, 2016
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