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Ill. man threatened to shoot 2 cops

The Chicago Tribune

OAK LAWN, Ill. — An Oak Lawn man has been charged with two counts of assault for threatening to shoot two off-duty Chicago police officers stopped at a traffic light, Oak Lawn police said.

Eric Hernandez, 27, was charged Aug. 12 after the two officers identified him as the man who approached them on foot last month while they were stopped in separate cars at 95th Street and Pulaski Road, authorities said.

He held his hand under his shirt, implying he had a gun in his waistband, and threatened to shoot them, authorities alleged. Both men identified themselves as officers after Hernandez flashed gang signs at one of them, police said.

Hernandez shouted obscenities at the two men, called one of them a “pig” and said he didn’t care who they were, police said. He then jumped into a white Cadillac Escalade, driven by a friend, that had pulled up to the intersection, police said.

While in custody on an unrelated domestic violence charge last week, Hernandez admitted flashing gang signs at one of the officers but said he couldn’t recall what he shouted at them, police said.

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