May 01--Chicago police say a man who was shot and wounded by an officer early Friday morning had a handgun sticking in his waistband as he charged officers in Canaryville.
The man was among three who had robbed a man at gunpoint near Cermak Road and State Street in the South Loop around 3:15 a.m. Friday, taking his cellphone and wallet before fleeing in a sedan, according to police and Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden.
The man's girlfriend called police. First District officers responded to the scene, and using an app of the girlfriend's phone were able to track the man's stolen phone to the 500 block of West 43rd Street, Camden said.
The officers spotted a car on the block that matched the description of the sedan in the robbery, approached the car and saw three men inside eating, Camden said.
When officers told the men to get out of the car, one man "exited the vehicle revealing a handgun in his waist band area and charged the officer, hitting him with his body," police said in a statement. The man threw an elbow at the officer, and in the scuffle, the officer's gun accidentally fired, Camden said.
The man fled the scene, but dropped a semi-automatic handgun with a 20-round clip, Camden said. Police said the handgun was recovered at the scene.
The two other men inside the car were taken into custody, police said. A short time later, a man showed up at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center with gunshot wounds to his chest and shoulder, police and Camden said. Police soon determined he was the man shot in the 500 block of West 43rd Street and he was taken into custody.
Camden said the man, whose age was not immediately available, was transferred to John H. Stroger Hospital where he was listed in serious condition. Early Friday morning, police said the man was in "guarded condition." No other details about him were released.
The Independent Police Review Authority was investigating Friday, as is the case in all police-involved shootings.
