By Jeremy Gorner and Quinn Ford
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — An off-duty Chicago police officer was in critical condition Wednesday morning after she and her daughter were shot at the daughter’s South Side home, authorities said.
The daughter’s boyfriend was taken into custody on the Near North Side hours after fleeing with the couple’s 2-year-old child, sources said. The child appeared unharmed.
The officer, who works in the narcotics unit, was with her daughter and grandchild when they encountered the child’s father at the home in the 2200 block of East 68th Street around 10 p.m. Tuesday, sources said.
The father opened fire and shot the officer, wounding her in the face, neck and both arms, police said. The officer’s daughter was hit in the thigh, police said. The father fled with the child in a black Impala with tinted windows, according to police.
He was later located near the Cabrini-Green housing development and arrested, sources said. A gun was recovered, one source said.
The officer, 49, and her daughter, 21, were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The officer was listed in critical condition and her daughter listed as stable, according to a police statement. The child was also taken to the hospital for observation.
The officer is a 24-year veteran of the Chicago police department and has received 23 departmental awards, including 11 honorable mentions, the statement said. Her husband is also a Chicago police officer.
She is the fourth Chicago police officer to be shot in a little more than a month.
Outside the Northwestern emergency room, a Chicago police SUV sat parked outside the Northwestern emergency room as an officer paced while on his cell phone. Several high-ranking officers, including Deputy Chief of Detectives Anthony Riccio and Gang Enforcement Cmdr. Kevin Ryan, walked into the emergency room.
A hospital employee later closed the garage-style entrance door to the emergency room.
Later, First Deputy Superintendent Alfonza Wysinger came outside to brief the media. “During this incident, the officer was shot numerous times in the face, neck and in both forearms,” he told reporters.
At the scene of the shooting, neighbors stood behind yellow tape that blocked off about four blocks on East 68th Street.
“It looked real gruesome,” said a 35-year-old man who got home from work to find police cars outside his building.
“This is crazy, man,” he added, asking that his name not be used. “Hopefully, God willing, they’re alright. This is crazy. I lived here four years, and I’ve never seen nothing this close to home.”
Police asked that anyone with further information about the attack call Area Central detectives at 312-747-8380.
Copyright 2014 the Chicago Tribune