Old Town shooting: CPD officer shoots, kills man on North Side, Chicago fire and police say
CPD Supt. David Brown couldn't say how many shots were fired or whether the man pointed a weapon at the officers.
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago police officer shot and killed a man early Sunday morning in Chicago's North Side Old Town neighborhood, a CPD spokesman said.
CPD Superintendent David Brown said officers patrolling the area of the 400-block of West Blackhawk Street just after 5 a.m. were flagged down by a female neighbor who said someone had pointed a gun at her.
WATCH: CPD Supt. Brown gives update on Chicago shooting
Officers then found the suspect, who ran from police, Brown said, starting a foot chase.
Police got back in their squad car and found the suspect, described as a man about 20 years old, a second time.
During an attempt to take him into custody, an officer fired his weapon, fatally shooting the suspect.
"Right away, I recognized it as gunfire. I thought about calling police, but I figured they would be here in a minute and I wasn't quite sure where to direct them," said Tim Blackmun, an Old Town resident.
Crime scene tape blocked off Blackhawk between Cleveland and Hudson avenues just after 6 a.m., and a large number of CPD detectives could be seen in the area. Neighbors said they heard anywhere from five to 16 gunshots and didn't hear any sort of argument or confrontation before the shooting.
Brown said shell casings were found in the area that did not come from the officer's weapon. A gun and clip with ammunition were also recovered.
The details are murky. Police were not willing to say that this man pointed his weapon or even fired at officers.
"They try and detain this person... He takes off running. There is a foot chase... He escapes...." Brown said. "And, they see him a second time. One of the officers gets out. One of the two officers gets out of the car and tries to confront again, take him into custody... The officer then fires his weapon, striking the offender and the offender is deceased."
But did this person, who the Chicago Fire Department identified as a 20-year-old man, fire or even point a weapon at the officers?
Brown avoided specifying that either had happened, but did say a weapon, which police later released a photo of, was recovered near the dead man's body. ABC7 counted at least 20 evidence markers which appeared to be placed by shell casings, though it is not clear whether those were fired by the police officer or someone else.
"There are casings, those are spent bullet casings, from a gun not matching our officers. The full and complete investigation by COPA will determine whether the weapon was fired. Whether those casings match the gun that were found at the scene, but that's all we know now," Brown said.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was on the scene Sunday morning. COPA, which investigates police-involved shootings, would not comment Sunday other than to say this is an ongoing investigation. The 34-year-old officer who fired the shots was briefly at Northwestern Memorial Hospital for observation after suffering from shortness of breath. He is now, per protocol, on administrative duty for thirty days.
Anyone with information on the police shooting is asked to call COPA at 312-746-3609 or visit chicagocopa.org.
Brown also confirmed that a fatal shooting less than a mile away was unrelated to the police shooting.
A man was fatally shot early Sunday after an argument on the Near North Side.
About 5:20 a.m., the man, 38, was found on a sidewalk in the 300-block of West Division Street when he had been shot multiple times in the body by someone he was arguing with, Chicago police said.
He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died due to his injuries, police said.
No one was in custody.
Sun-Times Media contributed to this report.
