July 10--A Chicago police officer fatally shot a man in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side after the man pointed a gun at the officer late Thursday evening, authorities said.
Around 11:30 p.m., Gresham District police officers responded to a call of a man with a gun in the 7500 block of South Langley Avenue. The man was wearing a leather Blackhawks cap, said Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police.
When the officers arrived, they spotted a man matching the given description.
One of the officers came out of a police car and approached the man, who then started to quickly walk away, Camden said. The officer then pulled the man by his collar, and the man reached for his gun, he said.
The officer then fired his gun, striking the man, according to Camden and a statement from the Chicago Police Department.
The man landed on his side and pointed his gun at the officer, at which point the officer shot him again, Camden and police said.
The man was taken to Jackson Park Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Camden said.
Police officers recovered a weapon at the scene of the shooting.
No officers were wounded in the incident.
At the scene of the shooting, police officers cordoned off about a block of the one-way Langley Avenue between 75th and 76th streets with yellow and red tape.
About two hours after the shooting, a couple of bystanders stood next to the yellow tape.
Michael Banks, 37, who said he witnessed the shooting, was leaning on a building near the south side of the scene.
Banks said he was among about 80 people who were outside in the 7500 block of South Langley for a birthday party, minutes before the shooting occurred.
A police car drove up, called someone over, then drove away and came back, Banks said.
Banks said he then saw an officer leave his police car and shoot a man once, leaving him lying immobile on his stomach.
He then walked up to the man and shot him a few more times, Banks said.
"It just looked like an execution to me," Banks said, adding that he was about 15 feet away from the shooting. "I don't see no threat -- you're on your stomach."
The shooting is still under investigation.
