(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said an off-duty Chicago police officer was shot over the weekend as he tried to act as peacemaker after an argument spilled out of a bar in West Beverly.
O’Shea said the fight began at Sean’s Rhino Bar. It then spilled out onto the street and around the corner, west of Western Avenue, to 104th Street. He said off-duty Chicago Police Officer Dan Golden had announced he was an officer and was trying to separate the parties involved.
“I know that Officer Golden announced that, in fact, he was a police officer, which is what he should do in the situation,” O’Shea said. “Again, he’s a peacemaker, and that’s what makes this so much more tragic and frustrating.”
The alderman said Golden was eventually shot by someone who had illegally turned a handgun into an automatic weapon.
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O’Shea said he is confident the people responsible for leaving the 31-year old officer paralyzed below the waist will be brought to justice.
“The business owners along Western Avenue who have come forward providing video footage of what went on in the early morning hours, the amount of neighbors in the community who have come forward cooperating with the police — inviting them into their homes — to pull up Ring camera video … has played a huge role here,” O’Shea said.
Officer Golden is a third-generation Chicago police officer, O’Shea said.
“I know this young man,” O’Shea said. “I know his family. He served in the United States Army overseas. He is a dedicated, young Chicago police officer. He’s going to be getting married next year.”
O’Shea believes that after the long road of recovery ahead of him, Golden will someday return in some capacity with the Chicago Police Department.
The alderman said that while Golden was off duty when the fight broke out around 2:30 a.m., police are never off duty when trouble breaks out.
O’Shea said the gun that fired a number of bullets, one of them hitting Golden, had been outfitted with a switch that turned it into an illegal automatic weapon.
The alderman said police are looking for multiple people who were involved.
The Chicago Police Department has only said its investigation continues.
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