June 01--An off-duty Cook County sheriff's officer intervened during an armed robbery in East Garfield Park and wounded the gunman in an exchange of gunfire, authorities said.
The shooting occurred as the officer was headed for work around 10:25 p.m. Sunday in the 3400 block of West Madison Street, according to Chicago police and the Cook County sheriff's office.
The robber was hit in the lower right leg, Chicago police said. He drove himself to Stroger Hospital, where he was taken into custody.
Following the shooting, police taped off a vacant lot and alleyway on the southeast corner of Madison and St. Louis Avenue, as well as a portion of Madison Street.
Officers placed evidence markers where a handgun with an extended clip lay near the mouth of the alley bordering the lot as people from a nearby apartment building watched behind yellow crime tape.
Witnesses who were outside when gunfire erupted said they were returning to the block when they heard two shots followed by another nine shots. Friends of the off-duty officer said he was getting ready to leave for work when he spotted a gunman robbing someone he knew.
Chicago police said no one else was injured. The off-duty correctional officer was taken to a hospital as a precaution, said Sophia Ansari, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office.
