"A young woman, there was a car. Both doors were open. She was on the ground. The first thought was the worst, but then I could see her breathing," said witness Mike Marshall.
The events that led up to the unlikely shooting began minutes earlier inside the Louis Vuitton store when a sales clerk allegedly recognized a female customer as someone who had, once before, charged a high-priced spending spree to a fraudulent credit card. Police were called to the store.
"There was a struggle where she eventually made it to a vehicle. She made it to the vehicle, at which point a shot was fired," said Chicago police department Cmdr. Eric Washington.
Police say the woman was trying to reach for an officer's weapon. Witnesses to the shooting described the aftermath.
"[She was] kind of screaming and moaning. You couldn't understand what she was saying, but she was conscious. She lifted her head a couple of times," witness Andrea Cole said.
Witnesses also say a man waiting in a would-be getaway car tried to blend into the crowd once police started to crowd the scene. However, officers caught up to him two blocks in front of Water Tower place.
Charges against that man and the yet-to-be-identified woman have not been filed.
The woman remained hospitalized Sunday.
Meanwhile, two officers hospitalized with minor injuries were expected to be released Sunday.
