A year and one day after he was killed by a gunman at a Bronzeville hospital, slain Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez was remembered by his colleagues as “a phenomenal person” who gave his life to save others.
“Sam was truly a hero,” said Dion Boyd, commander of the Wentworth District, where Jimenez, 28, was assigned at the time of his death. “Sam will never be forgotten.”
CPD Officer Miguel Guerrero was partnered with Jimenez before his death.
“I hit the lottery with Sam,” Guerrero said.
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Jimenez’s widow, Crystal Garcia, and other family members also attended the ceremony. The couple met during their freshmen year of high school.
Jimenez was one of dozens of officers who responded to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center on Nov. 19, 2018 after a gunman, Juan Lopez, shot and killed Dr. Tamara O’Neal in the hospital’s parking lot. Lopez and O’Neal had previously been engaged to be married.
After shooting O’Neal, Lopez entered the hospital. He soon after killed Dayna Less, a pharmacy resident. In a gun battle with police, Lopez killed Jimenez. Another CPD officer shot Lopez in the abdomen before Lopez shot himself in the head.
“The lives that he saved that day in the hospital, a lot of those people are still here because of what he did and the sacrifice that he made, and that’s certainly not lost on anybody today,” CPD First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the Mercy Hospital shooting, another CPD officer was shot and wounded by a suspected bank robber on the Northwest Side. The man, 32, was later shot and killed by an officer from northwest suburban Des Plaines in a gun battle in a music store in the 4300 block of West Irving Park Road.
A 15-year-old boy, who was in the shop for a piano lesson, was wounded in the crossfire. Riccio said that it was “most likely” that the boy was shot by the Des Plaines officer.
