Dec. 02--Charges have been filed against two men after a weekend gunfight with an off-duty Cook County sheriff's deputy outside a West Town bar left one of the men in critical condition.
Mario Orta and Fernando Lopez, both 27, are each facing assault and weapons charges following the shooting outside the Funky Buddha Lounge at 728 W. Grand Ave., according to police.
About 2:50 a.m. Sunday, the deputy spotted Lopez waving a gun in a crowd during an altercation just outside the bar, police said.
Lopez fired the weapon and the deputy approached and told him to drop it, police said. When Lopez pointed the gun at the officer, the deputy shot him, police said.
Lopez, of the 2500 block of West 51st Street, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he remains in critical condition, police said.
Police said Lopez dropped the gun after being shot, and another man picked it up and fled the scene.
Lopez was charged with one count of aggravated assault to a peace officer with a weapon, two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of discharging a firearm and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a street gang member, according to a police statement.
Orta, of the 2600 block of West 12th Place, was charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, one count of unlawful use of weapon by a felon and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a street gang member.
Police say both men are gang members. Orta has a long list of arrests, including in 2008 when he was charged with multiple counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and was sentenced to 24 months of probation after pleading guilty, according to court documents.
Both men were due to appear in Cook County bond court Tuesday afternoon.
