Shootout between retired Chicago police officer, carjacking suspect on West Side caught on camera
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A retired Chicago police officer shared surveillance video of a wild shootout he got into while trying to help a neighbor who was being carjacked in the South Austin neighborhood.
The retired officer was back home and OK Wednesday morning, as is the carjacking victim, who was just trying to go to work.
They described a shootout and they both realized things could have ended very differently.
"I grabbed my gun ran outside and positioned myself behind a tree," the retired officer said. "At that point it was going to be me or him."
This shootout happened at 1:45 a.m. in the 300 block of north Mayfield Avenue in South Austin. The victim said he was just trying to leave for work at the same time he always does when the suspect suddenly approached him and pulled out a gun.
"He said give me your money, give me your wallet, give me your keys and start your car up," the victim said. He asked to not be named.
His neighbor, a retired Chicago police officer of 30 years, said he heard the car alarm of his neighbor across the street going off. He realized the neighbor was being carjacked.
"When I looked up, he was at his wife's car with his hands up and I noticed the gentleman had a gun on him," the retired officer, who wants to conceal his name, said.
The victim saw the 72-year-old retired officer trying to help and both of them braced themselves for what happened next.
"They shot up my car in the driveway," he said. "Shot part of the house."
The retired police officer fired 12 rounds and heard the suspect fire at least 16 back at him.
Bullets hit the fence and one even grazed his left thumb, which is now bandaged up.
He believes the suspect was hit too, but managed to drive off northbound. He crashed the stolen Jeep into several parked cars in the 600-block of North Waller Avenue then took off on foot.
This whole incident is a reminder to both the retired officer and the carjacking victim, that although this is a tight knit neighborhood with residents watching out for each other, anything can happen.
"They are not scared to shoot now," the retired officer said. "It's awful to shoot at somebody that many times."
Police said no one is in custody while they continue to investigate. The retired officer said he saved two bullets in his gun just in case there were other suspects he needed to protect himself from.
"Now that this happened, every day of my life that I come outside, I'm going to always think that something like this is probably going to happen," the carjacking victim said. "Life. Life. God and Life. Being here. Because that situation could have turned totally different."
The victim said his car is now totaled, and he is trying to figure out how he is going to get to work.
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