CHICAGO _ A man authorities say shot a police officer and tried to kill a woman last week was charged Monday morning with four counts of attempted murder, as he remains hospitalized and in custody, police said.
Anthony Guglielmi, the chief spokesman for Chicago police, announced four felony attempted murder charges against Michael Blackman, 45, in a tweet. Blackman has been hospitalized since he was shot multiple times Saturday during the second of two "gun battles" he engaged in with authorities. One of the attempted murder charges stems from the earlier of the two, during which he shot a 40-year-old police officer multiple times, police say.
Another of the attempted murder charges relates to the shooting of a woman on Wednesday on the in the Fulton River District on the city's Near West Side.
"Based on the information we have right now, the shooter passed by a group of individuals and went directly to her to extend his arm and fire one single gunshot," Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at the time. "Appears right now the victim may have been targeted by the offender."
Police went to a home in the 1900 block of West 65th Street to arrest Blackman early Saturday, but he managed to run out a back door, where he encountered the officer and opened fire. He is said to have run about three blocks to a vacant field where he is believed to have hidden for hours before officers located him and ended up in the second gun battle.
Blackman was shot at that time and originally was transported to an area hospital in critical condition. An updated condition wasn't immediately available Monday.
