By Madeline King, Olivia Olander, Caroline Kubzansky, Rebecca Johnson
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — One Chicago police officer was killed and another critically injured after they were shot at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital Saturday morning by a man they brought in for treatment at the emergency room, according to police and hospital officials. The suspect was taken into custody.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said in a department-wide message to police, obtained by the Tribune, that an officer assigned to the Albany Park (17th) District was shot and killed while transporting the suspect inside the Lincoln Square hospital. Another officer was also shot and remains in critical condition Saturday afternoon, he wrote.
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Snelling called the shooting “a devastating loss for our department and our city” and called on the department to support the fallen officer’s family.
“This officer gave his life to protect his fellow Chicagoans, and we will never let our city forget his sacrifice,” he wrote.
While officials haven’t yet named either officer, Snelling said at a news conference that the officer who died was 38 years old and had been with the department for a decade.
The officer “fighting for his life” is 57 and has more than 20 years with the department, he said.
Endeavor Health , which operates the hospital, said the suspected gunman was taken to the emergency department around 9 a.m. He fired shots at the officers about two hours later and fled the building, and was later apprehended, officials said in a statement.
A still from surveillance video footage obtained by the Tribune showed the suspect running naked down a street, with white patches stuck to his chest. No charges have been announced as of Saturday evening.
“The safety of our patients and team members remains our top priority,” Endeavor Health said. “We are cooperating with law enforcement during their investigation and our deepest compassion remains with the officers and their families.”
‘A real difficult moment’
At a news conference held Saturday afternoon outside Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where both officers were rushed, Mayor Brandon Johnson said it’s a “real difficult moment for our city.”
“This tragedy and this loss is not only heartbreaking, but it’s a constant reminder of why we have to continue to ensure that our police department has the services and resources that they need to effectively do their job,” he said.
Around 4:30 p.m., dozens of police officers stood at attention outside the hospital, watching as the body of the fallen police officer — draped in the Chicago flag — was loaded into an ambulance.
“He will never be forgotten,” the officers said in unison, repeating after Snelling.
CPD officers had begun gathering hours earlier Saturday, many hurrying toward the hospital with lights and sirens on. An officer directed traffic at the intersection of North Sheffield Avenue and West Wellington Avenue, which was partially blocked off in the direction of the hospital.
Snelling declined to provide many specifics on the case at the news conference, including how the suspect got the gun. He did note that the suspect had originally been arrested for robbery, and that he was taken to Swedish Hospital for “observation.”
“Right now, this is about these officers and their family members,” he said. “These are the dangers of policing. These officers know it, they understand it, but they still go out and they do it.”
According to a source familiar with the investigation, Albany Park (17th) district police originally arrested the suspect for an alleged robbery at a Family Dollar store in the 3200 block of West Lawrence Avenue shortly after 8 a.m.
Mourners gather in Hale Park
About 40 mourners gathered Saturday evening in Hale Park in the Clearing neighborhood to pay their respects to the two officers, including some of their coworkers. One patrolman said the officer who died had held the door for him just two days ago, during a shift change. The other officer was well-known around the Albany Park station for listening to music in the locker room and “singing his lungs out,” he said.
Neither had been publicly identified as of Saturday evening.
Gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey told reporters he’d felt compelled to join the crowd based on his own recent experience losing his own family members in a helicopter crash last year.
“My heart simply breaks for the family that’s enduring this because I know what they’re going through,” he said. “Right now we need to remember these families, we need to remember this life lost, we need to pray for the police officer that’s in the hospital.”
Rosario Huicochea and her husband Daniel made the trip down from Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood to show “unity with the families.” Rosario, 64, said her son is a police officer on the city’s West Side. They think about the fact that he could be killed at work “every day,” she said.
When he told them about the shooting that morning, her first thought was that the officers were “somebody’s son, somebody’s father.”
As the prayers concluded, she rested her chin on her husband’s shoulder as he bowed his head, hat in one hand.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it’
When Swedish Hospital went into lockdown amid reports of an active shooter around 11 a.m., emergency vehicles rushed down nearby streets and lined Foster Avenue, which police blocked off from traffic near the hospital’s campus.
About a 10-minute walk east of the hospital, nearly half a block of houses on West Carmen Avenue was sectioned off with police tape Saturday afternoon.
Nicholas Brown, 29, who lives a couple of blocks away, watched the police search for the suspect. He said it seemed that police were searching for the suspect in yards, sometimes jumping over fences. He saw hundreds of officers in the area — some with assault rifles, police dogs and riot shields.
“I’ve lived here for a few years,” Brown said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Jean Brown, who lives on West Carmen Avenue, said police apprehended the suspect from under the back deck of a house in the alley between her street and West Winona Street. Although she didn’t see the suspect, she said her neighbors spent the morning texting updates in a group chat.
“It’s sad news from the hospital,” the 60-year-old said.
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