Off-duty officer hurt, suspect dead in Bucktown police-involved shooting

CHICAGO (WLS) -- An off-duty Chicago police officer was wounded and another person was fatally shot in a police-involved shooting in the city's Bucktown neighborhood. The injured officer was released from the hospital Monday afternoon.

"He's ok. He's in a lot of pain. He's obviously been through a traumatic event," said Supt. McCarthy.

Speaking a few hours after leaving Stroger Hospital to check up on the wounded police officer, Supt. McCarthy said the investigation into what happened is still preliminary, but that it all started around 3 a.m. Monday morning, when an officer arriving home from work and still in uniform, confronted a man who appeared to be breaking into a home under construction on the 1600-block of North Marshfield in Bucktown.

"The man was armed with a screwdriver, came at the officer. There was a struggle over the officer's gun. It's not clear how he got shot. Whether the gun got taken away from him or he got it back or whether it discharged when he was fighting with him," said Supt. McCarthy.

McCarthy says the officer received an injury to his left bicep, but the struggle for the weapon continued.

"The offender left the officer no choice but to fully defend himself," Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said.

The offender, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead on the scene. Residents of this usually quiet neighborhood say were woken up by the commotion.

"I was asleep. My boyfriend was awake. He heard them. You could hear they were very very close," said Julie Dimon, resident.

"It's sad that an officer is going home after a long shift and he has to get mixed up in something like that," said Peter Sheehan, resident.

Police said the offender was known to local officers and had been arrested numerous times. As for the officer, McCarthy described him as a good, hardworking 20-year veteran of the force who is assigned to the entertainment detail downtown.

"He's in good spirits in the hospital. He's obviously upset about the incident and having to take somebody's life but at this point he's ok," said Supt. McCarthy.

The shooting remains under investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority.