By Adam Sege
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — An off-duty Chicago police officer shot and killed a man after being shot in the arm during a struggle in the Bucktown neighborhood early this morning, authorities said.
The shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. in the 1600 block of North Marshfield Avenue, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said.
The 44-year-old officer was shot in the arm and taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where his condition was stabilized, officials said. The other man died on the scene.
According to a release from the police department’s Office of News Affairs, the officer saw a male “attempting to forcefully enter” the rear of a nearby home in the 1600 block of West Wabansia Avenue that was under construction. The officer, who was on his way home from work and was still in uniform, identified himself and confronted the man, and, noticing a “dark object” in the man’s hand, pulled his weapon and ordered the man to drop the object in his hand.
The man then lunged at the officer, the release said, and a struggle began, with the man trying to disarm the officer. As the two struggled for control of the weapon, it went off, striking the officer in the arm. The officer regained control of his weapon, and, “in fear for his life,” fired the gun and struck the man. The man continued to struggle with the officer until he died at the scene.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy visited the wounded officer at Stroger this morning and said afterward the officer, who was shot through the left bicep, was in good spirits.
“He has some pretty significant injuries to his arm, as you can imagine,” the superintendent said outside the emergency room. “He’s in a lot of pain, but he’s going to be okay.”
Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police, said the officer was coming home from work when he spotted someone at a construction site near his home. The officer approached and, during a struggle, the officer’s weapon discharged and the bullet hit the officer in the arm.
The two continued struggling and the officer, “in fear for his life,” shot the suspect, Camden said.
Camden said it is unclear why the man was at the construction site. He was carrying a screwdriver, he said.
The officer is a 20-year veteran of the department and works in the 18th district on the North Side, according to the release from News Affairs.
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