The suspect was also shot, but what led to this happening depends on the telling.
Sandra Hardin is the grandmother of the teenager police say is the shooter. She said she witnessed police chasing him down the street at 68th and East End Ave.
"They tripped him and they caught him, one put his foot on his neck and shot him and they shot again and that's how the other police shot himself, 'cause he didn't have no gun, no nothing," Hardin said.
Police reject that claim. In a press release issued earlier they say gang unit officers were responding to a call of a person with a gun, when they observed their suspect and gave chase. They go on to say that, "a struggle between the subject and an officer ensued, at which point the offender produced and fired a weapon, striking an officer. An officer discharged his weapon, striking the offender."
"That kid was a good kid," said Constance Gonnitan, the suspect's cousin. "That kid was going to school. He was not into that."
The officer, who was shot in the hand, is an eight-year veteran of the force was taken to Northwestern Memorial in a squad car. The teenager was taken in serious condition to Stroger Hospital where he is in police custody.
