By Kim Janssen
Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — A bullet that lodged behind the ear of a Chicago cop when he and his partner were shot while investigating a drug deal on the West Side Monday night came within inches of killing him, officials said Tuesday.
“God was with us tonight,” Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said after learning that both officers are expected to recover.
The officers - both 29 and assigned to the Harrison District - had just gotten out of their car to investigate a suspected drug deal in an alley near South Karlov and West Wilcox when a man fired shots at them around 10:45 p.m. Monday, police said.
One officer, a Chicago cop for four years, suffered a wound to the head and the bullet was lodged behind his left ear. The other officer, who’s been on the job for three years, had a graze wound to the head and also was shot in the arm, McCarthy said.
At least one officer returned fire but it is unclear if anyone was hit, McCarthy said.
Police canvassing the area Tuesday were questioning several people in connection with the shooting, including a person of interest, sources said.
The incident came on the one-year anniversary of the murder of Officer Michael Bailey, who was killed outside his South Side home.
It was one of six police-involved shootings in a 72-hour period. In the most recent case, officers fatally shot a man who allegedly shot two other people before pointing a gun at officers near 91st and Ashland streets shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Parise R. Mercer Jr., 18, of the 9000 block of South Marshfield, allegedly shot two other men near a Harold’s Chicken Shack in the 9100 block of South Ashland, police said.
When he pointed his weapon at the officers chasing him, the officers shot him, police said. He was declared dead less than an hour later at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The two other men wounded in the incident were taken to a local hospital. They suffered non-life threatening injuries.
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