A prisoner being transported in a police wagon to the 25th District police station at Grand and Central opened fire Thursday morning when the doors were opened, wounding three officers, one seriously, sources said.
The prisoner, in turn, was shot multiple times outside the police station, 5555 W. Grand Ave., sources said.
One officer was shot in the neck and is in serious condition. Two officers suffered less serious wounds. One was shot in his protective vest, but the bullet didn’t penetrate while the second was wounded in the hip.
Two other officers were taken to the hospital for chest pains, Supt. David Brown said.
The prisoner’s condition was unknown.
It’s also unclear how the prisoner had a gun, since he should have been searched before he was placed in the police wagon. That question is certain to be a focus of the ongoing investigation.
The prisoner was handcuffed in front and began shooting in the station’s sally port, a secure interior area where prisoners are transported from police vehicles to inside the station, according to a source.
The source said the shooter appears to have been cuffed from behind when he was arrested but managed to get the handcuffs to the front during his transport to the station.
Brown talked to reporters briefly outside Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where the most seriously wounded officer was taken. Surgeons were working there to stabilize him. He’s a patrol officer in the 25th District who’s been with CPD 17 years.
The other four were taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. The suspect was taken to Stroger Hospital, Brown said.
Brown said the shooting happened about 9:40 a.m. and involved a suspect in a carjacking.
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“I ask everyone in our city to join me in praying for the Chicago police officers shot and injured this morning in the line of duty. We’re continuing to monitor the situation and will provide updates as they become available,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted Thursday.
“Today is a searing reminder of the danger our men and women of our police department face every day they put on their uniforms and leave their homes. This is the sacrifice they make in order to serve and protect our city and fellow residents.”
Within an hour of the shooting, about two dozen CPD squad cars were parked along Grand Avenue, which was closed to other traffic.
Officers congregated near the apparent shooting scene, a taped-off location behind the police station.
Evidence technicians placed dozens of orange evidence markers around two Chicago police SUVs parked at the crime scene behind the station, situated between an industrial corridor and a Hanson Park ball field across the street.
A Belmont Cragin woman said she was walking her dog on the north end of the park across the street when she heard dozens of gunshots.
“It sounded like fireworks, but then I realized it must be a bunch of guns,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.
Police vehicles periodically pulled up and left the station as dozens of officers milled about the scene, including some from the Cook County sheriff’s office.
A few dozen onlookers gawked from across the street for a few hours after the shooting, their number eventually dwindling to just a few.
One perplexed man made phone calls trying to figure out if his hearing scheduled for Thursday morning was still on at the misdemeanor court branch within the station.
“It’s pretty chaotic. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” said the man, who didn’t want to share his name.
Another resident also listened as the incident unfolded.
“I heard the gunshots go off and I thought to myself it’s way too early for the gangs to be shooting at each other,” said the man, who did not want to provide his name.
“Then I could hear the police sirens racing down the street, then the ambulance.”
He soon went outside to see what was happening.
“This is not the safest neighborhood in the city, but a police officer getting shot in the morning like this is not normal,” he said.
Police involved shooting at 25th District with hits to Chicago Police officer & offender. Officer en route to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Reports of another officer who sustained injuries and en route to Loyola Hospital. Media staging at Masonic.
— Chicago Police Communications & News Affairs (@CPD_Media) July 30, 2020
