Chicago Cops Fatally Shoot Man Accused Of Firing On Them First

CHICAGO, IL — Chicago police officers returned fire and killed a man who allegedly open fire first Friday night on the South Side, according to a department. The shooting happened at around 11:10 p.m. in the 5800 block of South Wabash Avenue in the Washington Park neighborhood, police said in a statement early Saturday.

According to police, uniformed officers in the department's summer mobile detail unit were responding to a report of a man with a gun when they saw a group of people in an alley. When the officers approached one of the men, he allegedly pulled a handgun and a fired on the cops, hitting their patrol car, police said. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for the South Side and Chicago — or other neighborhoods. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

That's when the officers opened fire on the alleged shooter and hitting him, according to police. The victim was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No officers were wounded in the shooting, and police recovered a weapon at the scene.

A night watchman in the area who was questioned by investigators told the Chicago Sun-Times he heard as many as 20 gunshots at around 11:15 p.m. Friday, June 2. The shots came from an alley between Wabash Avenue and State Street, and the night watchman said dealers sell drugs in a vacant lot south of the crime scene, the report added.

Friday night's incident was the second police-involved shooting for the department in nearly 10 days. On May 24, an officer shot and wounded a driver who allegedly rammed him with his car, pinning him against another vehicle as he tried to flee police on the West Side.

This recent fatal shooting also comes on the heels of officers returning fire after being shot at when they interrupted an alleged drug deal on the West Side. Deangela Eaton, 25, was wounded after she opened fire on two officers, hitting one of them in the chest. Luckily, the officer was wearing a bulletproof vest, something police officials say saved his life.

Photo via Shutterstock

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