CHICAGO _ A 40-year-old Chicago police officer was shot multiple time Saturday morning on the South Side as he and other officers tried to arrest a suspect who, authorities believe, shot a woman as he rode a bicycle near downtown, according to law enforcement sources.
Meanwhile, a manhunt is underway for the suspect, 45-year-old Michael Blackman, in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood, and city officials held a news conference at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where the officer is recovering.
"He's certainly not out of the woods," said Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson at a news conference at the hospital, but his condition had stabilized and he was out of surgery. "He's talking to us. He's still a little groggy from the anesthesia, but he's wiggling his toes."
Jane Kayle Lee, the trauma surgeon who performed surgery on the officer for roughly two hours, also spoke during the news conference and gave an update of his injuries, saying she believes that, though he was shot "multiple times," he will have a "good recovery."
"He came basically bleeding to death," Lee said. "He had already lost a significant amount of blood."
He suffered a gunshot wound to the groin and had two to his left lower leg, which was a "through and through" gunshot wound that ruptured one of the largest veins in the leg, Lee said. Surgeons repaired it after a blood transfusion.
The wounded officer applied his own tourniquet as his partner maintained pressure while he was in the squad car awaiting for an ambulance, Johnson said, lauding the officers.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Kevin Graham, the police union spokesman, also delivered remarks. After thanking the officers in the fugitive apprehension unit, Lightfoot said their "quick work" and the doctor's actions "saved his life."
"Thanks to their excellent work he is out of surgery," Lightfoot said.
"I ask that all Chicagoans continue praying for the officer and his family," Lightfoot said. "Also, keep all of our first responders in our thoughts and prayers. They run to danger to protect us."
Johnson ended the news conference by taking questions, and saying that the suspect remained at large and is believed to still be armed.
"There is a dangerous individual, there's no hiding that," Johnson said.
Blackman has a criminal record dating back to 1991, Johnson said. Records show he has multiple convictions for burglary, most recently two 2003 cases for which he was sentenced to eight years in prison. A warrant was issued for his arrest on another burglary charge last year.
The motive for Wednesday's shooting remains unclear.
The officer was shot about 8:40 a.m. in the 6500 block of South Winchester Avenue.
The wounded officer, assigned to the police department's fugitive apprehension unit, was part of a team that was trying to arrest the suspect in the West Englewood neighborhood for the Wednesday morning shooting that happened near downtown, the sources said.
When officers arrived outside of a home around 8:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of West 65th Street, Blackman fled out of the building's back door, said Johnson.
The offender was intercepted by the 40-year-old officer and his partner in the 6500 block of South Winchester Avenue where a physical struggle ensued and the suspect fired shots, hitting the officer in the groin and leg, but he and his partner managed to return gunfire. It's unclear if Blackman was wounded.
Earlier, police had surrounded a home near 65th Street and Winchester Avenue, where they believed the gunman who shot the officer was holed up, sources said.
That's when the officer was shot. Now, members of a SWAT team have surrounded a home near 65th Street and Winchester Avenue in West Englewood where they believed the gunman who shot the officer was holed up, sources said. However, during the news conference at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Johnson said a search was underway for him.
Shortly before noon, police escorted a young woman inside who identified herself as the wounded officer's sister. Asked of his condition as she entered the elevator, an officer replied for her: "We don't know yet."
More than a dozen police vehicles, marked and unmarked, lined the emergency entrance to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn and uniformed officers lingered outside the ambulance entrance in a light drizzle.
