Off-Duty Chicago Police Officer Shot On Southwest Side
UPDATED: 12/10/2012 - 4:06 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An off-duty Chicago Police officer was shot during an attempted armed robbery early Monday, while taking his young child out of a car seat, in the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side.
The officer was shot in the chest and arm around 12:30 a.m. at West 63rd Street and South Nashville Avenue early Monday.
He was taking his son out of a car seat, when a man walked up to him with a gun drawn, and said he was robbing him.
The two exchanged gunfire, and the officer told investigators he believes he wounded the would-be robber. The officer's son was not harmed.
The officer's chest wound was described as a graze wound, while the shot to the arm broke his wrist. The officer was treated at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He was released on Monday afternoon.
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Police Supt. Garry McCarthy had a message for the attacker.
"We're going to catch the guy, that's the message," he said. "We're going to hold him accountable, and we're going to find him."
McCarthy said the injured officer, who is 34 years old and a 10-year veteran, might have shot one of the offenders, but he wasn't entirely sure.
Officers were looking for a silver car, along with three men thought to be connected to the shooting police, police said.
Mike Bueschel, a Chicago firefighter who lives in the neighborhood, said he heard two initial shots, then four more.
"It was definitely gunfire. The first instinct was call 911," he said.
Neighbor Tracy Durkee said, "The whole neighebnorhood was just blanketed with squad cars, the SUVs, and unmarked cars. It was like nothing I've ever seen. They were up and down every block. They were doing grid searches."
Sharon Siwek, retired police officer, said the area is quiet; full of police officers, firefighters and city workers.
"This is a quiet neighborhood, nothing usually happens," she said.
"You think you have a certain amount of safety with that, but in reality you do understand that no area is going to be safe from all this violence that's in the city right now," Bueschel said.
