Chicago shooting: Police commander, sergeant shot dispersing crowd shooting fireworks in Austin

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two Chicago police officers were shot while trying to break up a crowd in the city's Austin neighborhood Monday morning, police said.

At about 1:45 a.m. in the 100-block of North Long Avenue, police said a female commander and a male sergeant were on patrol when police said they tried to disperse a large crowd shooting fireworks. The commander and sergeant then heard shots and felt pain, police said.

The commander was shot in the foot and the sergeant was shot in the leg. Both were transported to Stroger Hospital in good condition, police said.

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"As you know, there's been a lot of large crowd gatherings tonight, a lot of celebratory fireworks going off, kind of spontaneous," Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said. "They were dispersing a crowd when they heard shots and felt pain. Not sure if they targeted or whether this was people celebrating shooting in the air, shooting indiscriminately."

A witness who wants to remain anonymous said, "And they were standing by one car, and there was a loud pop and everyone started running and the police officer fell to the ground....And then the other police officer had ... and everyone was screaming... someone was screaming 'they shot the police officer, they shot the police officer.'"

Police are canvassing the area for surveillance video. No one is in custody.