CHICAGO _ Two Chicago police officers were killed Monday night when they were hit by a train while investigating a call of shots fired on the city's Far South Side, sources said.
The officers were doing surveillance after a report from the ShotSpotter gunfire locator system when they were hit by an outbound South Shore train at the 103rd Street Rosemoor stop near 103rd Street and Dauphin Avenue around 6:20 p.m.
Officials from the Metra commuter railroad shut down all traffic on the Metra Electric District tracks Monday evening while authorities worked at the scene.
The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which operates South Shore trains, uses Metra tracks.
The officers' deaths were similar to the 2002 death of Officer Benjamin Perez, who was fatally struck by a Metra train on an embankment while conducting an investigation.
The two Chicago police officers are among four killed while on-duty this year. Their deaths come about a month after Officer Samuel Jimenez, 28, was killed in a mass shooting at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center on the Near South Side. Two women, Dr. Tamara O'Neal, 38, and pharmacist Dayna Less, 24, were also killed in the shooting.
On Feb. 13, Cmdr. Paul Bauer, 53, was fatally shot while chasing suspect to a stairwell outside the Thompson Center in the Loop.
