March 20--An off-duty Chicago police officer shot and wounded a man who hit him with a baseball bat late Saturday in the Belmont Central neighborhood, authorities said.
The off-duty officer was walking on Schubert Avenue east of Monitor Avenue about 10:30 p.m. when he saw an "aggressive male holding his waistband area," according to a news release from the Chicago Police Department.
The officer, who is assigned to the Town Hall District, announced his office and was in the middle of conducting a protective pat-down when the male, whose age was not released by police, called out to family members. At that point, a 32-year-old man came out of a home armed with a baseball bat and approached the officer, according to the release.
The 37-year-old officer again identified himself as a Chicago police officer, but the 32-year-old continued toward him and struck him multiple times in the upper body with the bat, the release said.
The officer then pulled out his service pistol and fired shots, hitting the man in the leg and in the abdomen, according to police.
The 32-year-old man was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, said Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Walter Schroeder. He was undergoing surgery early Sunday, according to the news release.
The officer was taken in fair condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with an injury to his arm, Schroeder said. His injuries were considered to be non-life-threatening, according to the release.
The person whom the officer originally approached for a pat-down was taken into custody, police said.
Early Sunday, police officers, detectives and representatives of the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates all police shootings, were at the scene of the shooting, investigating what happened.
The intersection of Schubert and Monitor avenues was blocked off with red and yellow crime tape, and officers walked in and out of a three-story yellow building.
