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Off-Duty Police Officer Shot On South Side

UPDATED 06/15/12 12:06 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) - The search continues for a gunman who shot and wounded an off-duty Chicago Police officer during a backyard barbecue early Friday.

As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, the 38-year-old, 10-year veteran officer was wounded around 1:30 a.m. Friday when shots rang out in the 9700 block of South Genoa Avenue, in the Longwood Manor neighborhood. The gunshots came from across the Rock Island District Metra tracks behind the house.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports

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A source tells WBBM Newsradio the officer and two other off-duty police officers were enjoying themselves on the back patio of one of their homes on the block, when members of two rival street gangs began shooting at each other next to the Rock Island tracks, which run behind busy Vincennes Avenue.

The source says it does not appear as if the off-duty officer was the intended target.

Sources say the officer heard gunshots and suddenly felt pain in his legs. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with gunshots to each leg, authorities said.

Police say the officer was released from the hospital around 5 a.m. Friday.

"They were just out barbecuing; they were just sitting out chilling last night," said Debra Robinson, who lived next door to the house where the officer was shot.

Robinson remembers before going to bed Thursday night, the police officer who lived next door had other officers over to hang out. The officers were all on the back porch when Robinson was awoken from her sleep.

"With the shot, I jumped up," she said.

She watched as the wounded officer was taken from the scene.

"I saw the paramedics come and get him – that was it – because they had him laying down, you know, he wasn't moving or anything, but they brought him out on a stretcher," Robinson said.

Robinson said she thinks it was on a coincidence the officers were on the back porch when the gang members erupted in gunfire.

"They were on the porch, you know, just minding their own business," she said. "That's it."

Robinson's own husband is also a retired Chicago Police officer. Several officers live on the same block and are all good friends, she said.

It doesn't appear though the injured officer lives in the same neighborhood.

As of 11 a.m., no one was in custody in connection with the incident.

This is the second time since 5 p.m. Thursday that someone fired shots at a Chicago Police officer.

No one was injured in the earlier incident near 116th Street and Yale Avenue.

Police arrested one man and are searching for one other person in that incident.

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