'People Seeking To Do Harm To Cops': Chicago PD Superintendent

CHICAGO – One of two Chicago police officers shot early Sunday morning remains hospitalized with injuries to his lung and colon in an incident that Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said Monday "more than suggests" that the city's police officers are being targeted.

Jeffon Williams, 19, faces seven felony counts of attempted murder after police say he shot at officers during a traffic stop at 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the 3300 block of West Polk Street in Chicago’s Homan Square neighborhood on the city's West Side.

In a news conference Monday, Brown said 51 Chicago police officers have been shot or shot at so far this year. The two officers involved in Sunday’s shooting have not been identified. One was treated and released from the hospital but the other, who was shot twice in the upper torso and arm, has already undergone one surgery and may require more, officials said Monday.

CPD Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said in a news conference Monday that after Williams was pulled over by officers, he climbed into the trunk of his car by pulling down the back seat. As officers approached the vehicle, which had “extremely tinted” windows, they could see the gun that had an extended clip in the front seat.

Deenihan said that the officers’ body camera video showed Williams climbing back into the front of the vehicle and then returned to the front seat. It’s then, Deenihan said, when things escalated and the officers had to make a split-second decision.

“(Williams) is near the gun, he’s not complying, he’s refusing to come out of the car,” Deenihan said.

Officers broke the car’s window and started to pull Williams from the vehicle and attempted to grab his hands. As officers attempted to roll Williams over, police said he started shooting. Other officers returned fire as Williams attempted to escape, according to police. Shortly after, he was placed into custody and the gun was recovered.

Deenihan said the department plans to release the body camera footage from the incident shortly.

Both officers shot Sunday were part of a mobile summer team that was convened earlier this year to combat violent crime in Chicago and primarily on the south and west side of the city. Since that team was put together by Brown in late July, murders are down 50 percent across the city, shootings are down 15 percent and overall crime is down 19 percent in 2020, Brown said.

“(We have) room to improve, but that’s a significant improvement,” Brown said.

But with the number of police officers that have been shot (10) and shot at (41), Brown said it is clear that officers are being targeted during a summer when George Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis and when significant looting and protests have taken place in Chicago's downtown area.

So far this year, Brown said that Chicago police officers have taken 6,967 guns off the street, which, he said, could have been used in violent encounters. He also praised the efforts of officers in their efforts to curb violent crime in the city, but said that trends continue to show people going after police officers.

He said overall, there has been a sense of lawlessness among violent offenders, many of whom have started to take aim police officers. Brown said the 51 officers shot at quadruples any previous year in Chicago's history.

"I think there's more than a suggestion that people are seeking to do harm to cops," Brown said.