Man Faces Attempted Murder Charge In U Chicago Shootout

CHICAGO — A 28-year-old man faces three felony counts, including the attempted murder of a police officer, after he became engaged in a shootout with a University of Chicago officer Tuesday near the Hyde Park campus on Tuesday morning.

Chicago Police announced that Rhysheen Wilson has been charged in the incident which took place at 11:43 a.m. Tuesday on Woodlawn Avenue near 59th Street. Wilson has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unauthorized use of a weapon, the University of Chicago announced Thursday.

School officials said Wednesday that Wilson has no affiliation with the university. The school said that university officer Nicolas Twardak was driving on Woodlawn Avenue when he stopped after witnessing Wilson walking down the street with a gun drawn.

The school said that Wilson fired shots at Twardak, who then returned fire and struck Wilson, police said. The university released video footage of the incident on Wednesday, including from the officer’s body worn camera. On the footage, Twardak fires his gun 11 times while repeatedly telling Wilson to get down on the ground.

Footage shows him radioing in the call in which he says that he struck Wilson twice. Wilson was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. The officer had not previously been identified.

Twardak has served with the campus’ police department since 2016, the school said Thursday. In addition to routine patrol duties, he has had special assignments as a field training officer and bike officer.

Twardak was involved in one previous shooting in April 2018, the school said. The Chicago Police Department and the University reviewed the incident, and both reviews found that the officer’s actions were consistent with applicable law. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Thursday that Twardak fired at a student who was possibly having a mental episode. The shooting took place after the student was reportedly breaking car windows with a pipe.

The student, Charles Soji Thomas, reportedly charged at Twardak with the pipe before being shot.

The officer has been placed on administrative leave while this incident is investigated.