CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago police continue to search for whoever shot an off-duty officer Monday in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.
It is the second shooting of a Chicago police officer in two days.
The 32-year-old officer is doing well after surgery on a life-threatening gunshot wound to the stomach area.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown credits the staff at the University of Chicago Medical Center and officers who brought him there after responding to a SpotSpotter alert at 89th Street and Stony Island Avenue shortly after 12:20 p.m.
"These three heroic women who, in my opinion, without their intervention, quick, quick thinking, to get him transported quickly as possible, got him in a surgery, likely saved his life," Brown said. "(It) just was the most heartwarming thing that we've heard today."
Brown said the off-duty officer was in his personal vehicle, stopped at a traffic light, when offenders pull up behind him and beside him and just start firing into the car.
"It could be a lot of different things," Brown said. "...We heard rumors of a carjacking but we don't know yet. It's too early to tell."
Among the other possibilities Brown mentioned are road rage or mistaken identity.
Brown said investigators were searching for video and witnesses to aid in the search for the shooters.
A black 2020 Mitsubishi Eclipse CrossCBS Chicago
A police alert said they are looking for a black 2020 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross with Illinois plates that was rented under false pretenses.
The officer is the second Chicago police officer to be shot in as many days. A 26-year veteran was shot while standing in the parking lot of the Gresham District police station, at 7808 S. Halsted St. The bullet grazed his chin. The officer was treated at a hospital and released later that day.
CPD Supt. David Brown said at the time that that sergeant was the first officer struck by gunfire this year, though he said that 12 others had been shot at. Brown said 79 officers were shot at in 2020, and 10 of them were hit.
"We ask that you all keep our officers and their families in your prayers," Brown said Monday.
