Chicago police officers fatally shoot armed person while responding to Little Village shooting

Chicago police block off 26th Street west of Lawndale Avenue after officers shot and killed an armed person in Little Village. | Sam Charles/Sun-Times

A man was fatally shot in Little Village Friday afternoon by Chicago police officers responding to a report of shots fired, officials said.

About 12:30 p.m., Ogden District officers went to 2600 block of South Hamlin after a ShotSpotter detected gunfire in the area, CPD Chief of Operations Brian McDermott told reporters Friday.

Officers then saw a gray Ford Focus fleeing the area, headed east on 26th Street.

They tried to stop the car, but it crashed into a light pole in a nearby alley, McDermott said. The driver — a 25-year-old man — got out of the Focus and ran east on 26th Street.

Officers then “became involved in an armed encounter with the offender,” firing on him in the 3700 block of West 26th Street, said McDermott, who did not say if the suspect fired or pointed a gun at police. CPD later said in a statement that the man was shot in the buttocks.

The suspect was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, and later pronounced dead, according to the CFD and Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates the use of force by Chicago police.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office also confirmed the death though it did not release the man’s name.

CPD Chief of Operations Brian McDermott speaks to reporters after police officers shot and armed suspect Oct. 23, 2020, in the Little Village neighborhood.

Another male who was in the Focus was also arrested, though a female who was in the car fled and is not in custody, according to police.

Two handguns — a revolver and semi-automatic pistol — were recovered, one on 26th Street and the other on Hamlin Avenue, McDermott said.

After the police shooting, a victim from the original call of shots fired was discovered with a graze wound to the head. McDermott said the victim — a male whose age was not disclosed — was in good condition at an area hospital.

COPA is investigating the police shooting, while Area 4 detectives are investigating the initial shooting on Hamlin.

The officers involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative duty for 30 days as COPA investigates.

The police shooting occurred on the same block where a 7-year-old girl was shot while trick-or-treating last year on Halloween.

In September, a man was shot and killed by Chicago police after allegedly lunging at a CPD sergeant with a knife in Garfield Ridge on the Southwest Side. A week earlier, a man shot two Chicago police officers before being wounded by police in Homan Square on the West Side. Another man was shot by CPD officers in Englewood Aug. 9, prompting a night of unrest involving gunfire and widespread looting in downtown Chicago.