A male who was shot by a Chicago police officer as he ran from authorities during a stop Sunday night was in good condition after being wounded in the leg, according to officials.
During a news conference Monday with police Superintendent David Brown, Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan provided previously unreleased details about the shooting, including the fact that the person who was shot had fired shots at the officer before the officer returned gunfire.
“On-duty officers in uniform were chasing a (suspect) armed with a handgun. The (suspect) discharged his firearm once and the officer in return discharged his firearm, striking the (suspect). That (suspect) is in custody and charges are pending.”
No officers were injured, officials said.
Initially, police reported that tactical officers had been working in the 4500 block of South Drexel Boulevard in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side, according to a statement from police. At 9:37 p.m., they conducted a street stop — meaning they temporarily detained two males in a manner similar to a traffic stop, but on foot.
“As officers approached two male subjects, one of the subjects fled into an alley. One officer fired, striking the offender in the leg. A weapon was recovered,” the statement said.
Ephraim Eddy, a spokesman for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability — the independent agency charged with conducting an investigation and evaluating police use of force — said the interaction between the male who was shot and officers started before the street stop described in the police statement.
“It did begin with a traffic-related stop that led to a foot pursuit,” Eddy said by phone Monday morning. “There’s other details, too, that I’m not able to confirm at this point.”
The police statement did not say where specifically the weapon was recovered.
It wasn’t clear how many times the officer fired a weapon. The male who had run from police suffered one gunshot wound to his leg, and according to the statement, officers “placed (him) into custody and aid was immediately rendered.” He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition.
A Police Department spokeswoman said she was unable to provide additional information beyond the statement. She could not say whether the person shot was an adult or a juvenile, or whether the officer who fired a weapon was a man or a woman. Eddy also did not have those details.
Eddy said COPA had already begun reviewing evidence.
“There is body-worn video relative to his shooting that exists that we have obtained,” he said.
During his remarks, Deenihan said there was also a second police officer who fired his weapon Sunday. In the North Side’s Uptown neighborhood, someone tried to carjack a vehicle belonging to an off-duty officer, he said.
“This officer was off-duty, sitting in a vehicle. It appears it was an attempted carjacking where he pushed the (suspect’s) gun away and then discharged his firearm. There is nobody in custody and it appears nobody was struck for that incident,” Deenihan said, meaning no one was shot.
A police spokesperson said officers were called to the 1200 block of West Ainslie Street about 11:30 a.m. for an aggravated assault case. The off-duty officer had been sitting in the passenger seat of a parked black Audi when a man he didn’t know came up to the passenger-side window and pointed a gun at him, but the officer was able to fire his weapon and the would-be carjacker ran off.
COPA also is investigating that shooting.
The officers involved will be assigned to administrative duties for a period of 30 days, as is routine, officials said.
Twitter @312BreakingNews
