Shots Fired At Off-Duty CPD Officer In Burnside Neighborhood
CHICAGO (CBS)-- An attempted carjacking turned into a shootout involving an off-duty Chicago Police officer in the South Side's Burnside neighborhood early Saturday.
Police said a trio tried stealing a car from one of their own, and both sides opened fire.
As CBS 2's Eric Cox reported, police said no one was hurt in the incident. But members of the community where it happened are hoping for an end to the violence after not one, but two weekends with yellow crime scene tape being strung up.
According to police, someone driving a blue KIA sedan was accosted at 91st Street and Ellis Avenue by three men in two different cars around 2:30 a.m.
That someone happened to be an off-duty Chicago Police officer.
The officer had just parked his car when the vehicles rolled up and the men got out, police said.
Police said when the officer showed the offenders his weapon, they fired, and he fired back.
No one was struck, and the three men ran back to their cars and sped off, police said.
The offenders were in a dark colored sedan and a silver sport-utility vehicle.
Bullet holes were left in several cars parked outside as evidence of the intense shootout. Shell casings were also left strewn on the ground.
"Thirty to 40 casings in the middle of our street," said Melita Gordon.
Gordon was born and raised right there at 91st and Ellis.
"You just watch the neighborhood change," she said.
Gordon told CBS 2 she was working at 2:30 a.m. Saturday when the attempted carjacking happened outside her house.
"This is the second Saturday that I've come home from work that the streets are taped off because of gun violence," she said.
Indeed, last weekend the intersection of 92nd and Ellis just a block away was covered in police tape. Lakiya Charleston, 12, had been struck twice by bullets not meant for her.
Lakiya was asleep when someone opened fire, aiming at her family's home.
Gordon said she has had to talk to her granddaughter about gun violence.
"I have to explain to her what gun casings are and why these yellow things are here," she said.
The Burnside native said she misses what it was like when she was growing up – with block parties and a real community camaraderie.
"None of that is happening," Gordon said. When asked why, she wiped a tear and said, "I don't know."
No one was in custody in the shooting as of late Saturday afternoon. And while detectives were investigating the attempted carjacking, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability was looking into the officer's decision to fire his weapon.
