CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Two Chicago police officers were shot and the suspected shooter was wounded by police Sunday after a traffic stop in Homan Square on the West Side.
The shooting happened at 2:33 a.m. in the 3300 block of West Polk Street. The vehicle matched a description for an earlier call about a person with a gun, according to Chicago police.
One officer was shot twice on the left side and was in serious condition, Dr. Hadyn Hollister said in a news conference outside Stroger Hospital. He was undergoing surgery for serious lung and abdominal injuries.
The other officer suffered a gunshot wound to his left shoulder and was listed in good condition, Hollister said.
All of the shots were through-and-through, Hollister said.
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Outside the emergency room, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said the officers conducted a traffic stop near Spaulding and Polk and spotted a gun in the vehicle.
The officers broke the windows after the suspect, who appeared to have moved from the front seat to the back seat, refused to get out of the car, Brown said, and a struggle ensued.
During the struggle, the suspect shot both officers. A third officer arrived and returned fire, hitting the suspect, the superintendent said.
Brown said the injured officers were "wearing body cams and it's being reviewed."
Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised the officers' supervisor for driving them to the hospital.
"Their supervisor brought them here and probably saved their lives," Lightfoot said.
Both officers are men in their early 20s who have been on the job for two years, Brown said. They are part of the department's summer mobile patrol unit.
The suspect was taken via ambulance to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Chicago Fire Department officials said. He was in critical condition but has been stabilized.
In a tweet Sunday morning, police spokesman Tom Ahern wrote that a weapon was recovered at the scene and posted a photo of a handgun with an extended magazine.
Ephraim Eaddy, the spokesman for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, said COPA is investigating the shooting but did not provide additional details.
The officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days, police said.
In her remarks outside the hospital, Lightfoot referred to the recent movement to defund the police department but stressed the role of police in maintaining public safety.
"Now, there are some who would say we don't need the police and safety can be accomplished through other means," Lightfoot said. "I want to be clear-eyed that when we have this most-important discussion, we do it on the basis of facts and context.
"And I know having been around law enforcement for a very long time and been around the heroic men and women of the Chicago Police Department, the only people who are qualified based upon their training, supervision and courage to respond to a person with a gun … to respond when our residents are in danger, the only people qualified to do that are the police. So we should have that discussion, but let's be clear-eyed about what the dangers are that not only exist for our residents, but also for law enforcement."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2020. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
