July 30--A state correctional officer was wounded by police after an eight-hour standoff in Bronzeville ended with an exchange of gunfire early Thursday, authorities said.
The man, a former Chicago police officer, was shot around 3 a.m. after firing at officers who surrounded a home in the 4800 block of South Calumet Avenue, police said. He was taken to a hospital but his condition was not known. Charges were pending.
The standoff began around 8 p.m. Wednesday when the man pulled a gun on sheriff's officers who were trying to serve a warrant stemming from a domestic assault, according to authorities. The home was surrounded by a SWAT team and other officers while nearby homes were evacuated, police said.
Just before 1 a.m., an officer with a megaphone tried to talk to the man.
"If you can hear me, flick that front porch light on and off," he said, with no discernible result.
"Think about your family," he said. "Think about your dog."
Nearly an hour later, a woman took the bullhorn. Officers at the scene identified her as the man's sister.
She was calm at first. "You don't have to call them, just call my cellphone, or let me call you, please," she said. "Just move one of those blinds, let me know you still there."
Soon there was anger in her voice. "What the f---? All these other cars out here," she said. "This s--- is f---ing crazy. ... These are real police."
She got no response and began crying into the bullhorn. "I'm scared. I don't want anything to happen to you," she said. "I can't lose you, too. ... Please, call me."
At about 2:30 a.m., an officer took the bullhorn and called the man by his first and last name.
"This is the Chicago Police Department. Please do us a favor and come out the front door with your hands up," he said.
The officer repeated the request over and over until just after 3 a.m., when two loud cracks echoed down the street -- gas canisters fired in an attempt to force him outside.
The man began yelling loudly. "Don't f--- with me like this," he screamed.
"Come on out," police responded. "Put that gun down."
The man then fired at officers, who returned fire and hit him.
The man, 46, had been wanted on a domestic battery and aggravated assault warrant after his wife filed a complaint and received an order of protection from a Domestic Violence Court judge Tuesday, according to court records.
During the standoff, a small woman with a bandage on her nose paced back and forth along police tape stretched across 49th Street at South Prairie Avenue, less than a block from the home.
She began walking in circles, her face in her hands, before sitting down on a curb. A female police officer came to sit beside her, speaking gently.
At about 11:45 p.m., two police officers walked up to update her on the situation. They had talked to the man a couple of times on the phone, and needed to know what kind of land line was in the home. They walked her behind the police tape, and she disappeared behind the cluster of police wagons.
