Two Chicago Police Officers Injured In Shootout With Suspects

(CBS) -- Two Chicago police officers were shot Tuesday night during a shootout with suspects on the South Side.

Police were interviewing persons of interest.

The shooting occurred around 9:15 p.m. near 43rd and Ashland in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Officers were conducting a follow up investigation to an earlier incident when as many as two vehicles pulled up and began firing at them. The officers were struck but managed to return fire, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson told reporters.

One officer was shot in the back and the other was shot in the arm and hip, but they were expected to recover.

"They're doing quite well, thank God," Johnson said outside Stroger Hospital, where the officers were taken by ambulance. The officers' families were there.

Witnesses tell CBS 2 they heard several rounds fired. Weapons were recovered near the scene.

Johnson said a few persons of interest were being questioned and police were pursuing promising leads.

Mayor Emanuel and aldermen were at the hospital. Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham said he met briefly with both officers.