A Cook County sheriff’s deputy wounded a teenager who tried to steal his sports car Monday at a car wash in Little Village, police said.
The man had just stepped away from his 2015 Chevrolet Corvette in a parking lot in the 2500 block of West Cermak Road when the teen got in the car, Chicago police said.
When he returned at 8:35 p.m., the 50-year-old man pulled out a handgun and fired shots at the 16-year-old, striking him in the shoulder, police said. Police said the deputy told them he saw the teen reaching for something, but it was unclear what that was.
The man was on-duty at the time but was on a break, according to sheriff’s spokesman Sam Randall. He’s a 28-year veteran and works at the county’s main criminal courthouse, about a mile southwest of where the shooting occurred, Randall said.
The boy was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said. His injuries were not life-threatening, Randall said. Police said charges were pending against the teenager.
The deputy was taken to Rush University Medical Center for shortness of breath, officials said.
Police recovered the deputy’s weapon at the scene, authorities said.
It was not improper for the sheriff’s deputy to be washing his personal vehicle during his lunch break, Randall said.
The shooting was recorded by car wash surveillance cameras and the footage was shared with police, Ben Fuller, co-owner of Fuller’s Express $3 Car Wash, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
After the shooting, police taped off a Corvette parked at a vacuum stall of the car wash at the intersection of Cermak Road and Rockwell Street.
Three shell casings could be seen on the ground next to the vehicle’s shattered driver’s side window.
