Chicago police ID suspect in shooting of officer in West Englewood; 2 at large
Wounded cop speaks with Officer Ella French's partner on call
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The search for two suspects in the shooting of a Chicago police officer continues Friday.
Police sources said a 28-year-old man with a history of gun violence has been identified as one of the suspects.
The 7th District female officer is in serious but stable condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center after being shot during a traffic stop Wednesday.
The shooting felt hauntingly familiar to Chicago police, happening just a few blocks from where police say two men shot and killed Officer Ella French, and severely injured her male partner, Carlos Yanez last summer in a traffic stop.
WATCH: Supt. Brown's full update
Chicago FOP president John Catanzara said Yanez and the injured female officer spoke Thursday on Zoom from her hospital bed.
"They had a nice heart-to-heart," Catanzara. "I think it's probably a situation that only the two of them can even understand. There isn't too many officers who have been shot in the head and survived."
Catanzara said she is alert and awake, but needs surgery to remove gun fragments from her neck.
CPD Supt. David Brown said at about 5:42 p.m. Wednesday, two officers,who were in uniform and driving a marked squad car, attempted a traffic stop near 61st and Paulina streets. The car they were attempting to stop at first sped off, then came back around and slowed down so they could pull up parallel to the officers' car and opened fire, striking the female officer, who was the driver of the squad car.
"They never completed the traffic stop. They saw the offenders do something at 61st Street and they were following them," said Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), who represents the ward where the shooting occurred and where the wounded officer's family lives.
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"Then, as they were following them, the offender's vehicle turned, being almost perpendicular to the police officers' car, and then started shooting," he said, citing information he received from high-ranking police.
The shot officer's partner jumped into the driver's seat and rushed her to University of Chicago Hospital, Brown said, where she was last listed in serious but stable condition.
The injured officer's partner was also checked out at Northwestern and then released, with officials saying he was not injured in any way.
Chicago police said 22 officers have been shot at so far this year, and four have been hit.
Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report
