A Chicago police officer was shot and killed on the city’s Southwest side on Wednesday, police officials confirmed.
The male cop was shot shortly around 4:45 p.m. in Gage Park in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a press conference.
Two police cruisers responded to a domestic-related report of a woman being chased down the street by a man with a gun, Brown said.
One car knocked on the door of the residence involved while the second car engaged with the gunman, who ran away from officers.
Officers pursued the man, who at one point turned around and shot at them multiple times “at close range,” striking one of the officers, Brown said.
Police returned fire and the gunman was shot in the head, he said.
The shot officer was rushed to Sinai Hospital in critical condition, where he later died from his injuries.
He was a five-year veteran of the force Brown said.
The gunman, an 18-year-old, was also hospitalized and was in critical condition. No charges have been filed.
Brown said the deceased officer comes from “a family of public servants,” who is “taking this tragedy very hard.” He said police were reaching out to family members all over the world, including Colombia, trying to get them to Chicago.
“Every officer in this police department, and in this country, is grieving today,” Brown said. “Policing is a big family of people who know at some point they may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.”
“There are some broken hearts that will take a long time to grieve, to accept this.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot joined Brown at the press conference.
“I want to remind people that every single day on every shift officers run to danger for our safety,” she said.
“This is a terrible tragedy for our city and we are mourning along with the officers’ family”
The shooting came hours after Brown handed in his resignation papers following the Democratic mayor losing losing her re-election bid in the Windy City on Tuesday.
Brown served as Chicago’s top cop for two years, a tenure marred by a surge in violent crime and stagnant progress on police reforms — the same issues that led to Lightfoot’s becoming the city’s first incumbent mayor to not be re-elected in four decades.
Lightfoot lost Tuesday’s election by a landslide as support for her progressive policies waned as the city battles an ongoing crime epidemic.
Lightfoot, 60, received just 16.4% of the total vote, finishing behind former head of Chicago Public Schools Paul Vallas [35%] and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson [20.2%].
The mayor blamed her landslide defeat on racism and her gender.
With no candidate carrying more than 50% of the vote, Vallas and Johnson will face off in a run-off election on April 4, when Chicagoans will be forced to make a critical decision on how the city combats rising crime moving forward.
Vallas, who finished first in voting and was the only white candidate in the race, is considered the tough-on-crime candidate and earned the endorsement of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police.
He had called for Brown to be fired and for the city to fill over 1,600 existing vacancies at the police department. If elected, he’s vowed to hire additional police officers to patrol the city’s trains and buses, replacing privately contracted security guards.
“Public safety is the fundamental right of every American,” Vallas told supporters after polls closed Tuesday night. “It is a civil right, and it is the principal responsibility of government. We will have a safe Chicago, and we will make Chicago the safest city in America.”
Johnson, meanwhile, has opened himself to criticism after calling for the city to “defund the police” during a 2020 radio interview, which he called “a real political goal.”
As Cook County commissioner, he supported a nonbinding resolution to redirect money from policing and jails to social services.
Johnson’s plan to fight crime calls for implementing the federal consent decree overseeing the Chicago Police Department, which was enacted in 2019 following the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald and requires reformed training, policies and practices in a number of areas — including use of force.
Under Lightfoot, Chicago saw 695 murders at the end of 2022, a rise from 804 in 2021 — a level of violence the Windy City hasn’t seen in 25 years.
Last year also had more than 20,000 cases of theft, nearly double the incidents in 2021, according to the Chicago Police Department’s end-of-year report.
And the surging crime does not appear to be letting up: In the first three weeks of 2023, crime rates in Chicago skyrocketed by 61% compared to last year, according to CPD.
