Carjacking Suspect Grazes Cop in Face During Shootout: Police

CHICAGO, IL -- A carjacking suspect is in custody after he fired a gun at a Chicago police officer, grazing the officer’s face late Tuesday evening, police said.

The shooting happened shortly after 10 p.m. in Chicago’s Washington Heights neighborhood on the Far South Side. Police said officers had stopped a man in the 600 block of East 100th Place because the vehicle he was driving matched the description of a car that had been carjacked earlier.

Standing in plain clothes outside Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson described how patrol officers approached the vehicle when the man took out a weapon and began firing.

“The first unit that approached it, one of the bullets struck the officer in the car,” Johnson said. “He suffered a graze wound to the face,” Johnson said.

Chicago Police Department Facebook

A second squad car took up the pursuit and the person inside fired multiple shots at the second car. Officers fired back and took the suspect, who was not hit by gunfire, into custody after he crashed the vehicle he was driving, Johnson said.

Eventually, officers were able to take the suspect, described by the Chicago Tribune as a 24-year-old parolee who had been serving three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on strong arm and attempted strong arm robbery charges.

The car the man had been driving was reported stolen earlier on Tuesday from the area 103rd Street and Lowe Avenue.

A 9mm gun recovered at the scene where police chased a man suspected of shooting at officers, grazing one in the face. | Chicago Police Department Facebook

Johnson said Tuesday’s violence was another example of the many dangers police officers face fighting crime on Chicago streets, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"It just goes to show you again how people are out here with all these weapons, and they’re not afraid to use them," Johnson said. "The same individuals, repeat gun offenders, continuously create havoc in our neighborhoods, and we just have to send them a message that we’re sick of it and we should be."

The injured officer is in his 30s. His injuries are not considered life threatening and he is expected to make a full recovery.

Cover photo: Bullet hole in windshield of squad car where an officer was shot and grazed in the face. | Chicago Police Department Facebook