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Officer Shot, Suspect Killed In West Englewood

UPDATED 04/19/11 6:57 a.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) --  A Chicago Police officer is recovering after being shot during a gunfight, which followed a robbery in the West Englewood neighborhood.

The robbery suspect was shot and killed.

Other Chicago Police officers followed the wounded officer's ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital late Monday night after the shooting.

Police say the officer was shot in the leg when he tried to break up a robbery at a Family Dollar store around 8:35 p.m., at 6308 S. Ashland Ave.

Gunfire reportedly broke out after the officer confronted the suspect.

"The guy walks in, he goes to rob the joint, holds two girls hostage. The police come, he lets the girls go. They bring the machine guns in, and I don't know who shot first, but all I know is we're standing right on the corner, bullets come through the wall," said witness Ricardo Perkins.

A woman and her cousin were heading to the Family Dollar store at the time of the shooting.

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"We just took off when we heard the sirens," the woman said. "We were on our way to the corner store when the shots first rang out, and we ran."

The suspect, Jerome Williams, 27, of the 6400 block of South Justine Street, was dead at the scene, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Service on the Chicago Transit Authority Green Line, which is steps away from the site of the robbery and shooting, was affected because of the police activity.

The wounded officer, a four-year veteran of the force, is expected to recover fully. The Independent Police Review Authority is now investigating the shooting.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.

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