A Chicago police officer was killed and another was seriously wounded in a shooting Saturday night on the South Side, officials said.
The officers were shot during a traffic stop shortly after 9 p.m. at 63rd Street and Bell Avenue and returned fire, hitting at least one suspect, police said.
Both officers were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where one of them — a woman — was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The other officer was “fighting for his very life” in critical condition, according to First Deputy Eric Carter who talked to reporters outside the hospital early Sunday.
“We ask the city of Chicago to pray for both officers, their families [and] their fellow officers who are struggling with the facts of this,” Carter said.
With him was Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who said “obviously our hearts ache for the loss of life. It’s a very sad and tragic day for our city.”
Police Supt. David Brown was out of town Saturday to finalize the details of his mother’s funeral. He was expected to return to the city Sunday.
Two suspects were taken into custody shortly after the shooting, according to police communications from the scene. The one who was wounded was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, condition not known.
A third suspect, a woman, was being sought by police late Saturday.
About a block from the shooting, neighbors looked out cautiously from their front yards, which one referred to as a “quiet block.”
“Be careful, they’re still looking for someone,” a woman warned a neighbor as she walked by.
Dozens of officers could be seen patrolling the neighborhood and blocking streets in the area while a police helicopter flew overhead.
Officers tied blue ribbons to trees shortly before midnight near the Cook County medical examiner’s office in preparation for a procession to the morgue.
Outside the medical center, a large crowd of police officers gathered outside an ambulance bay. They included city, county and state police officials and supporters.
Some in the crowd held a group prayer and others held each other while engaged in hushed conversation. Water bottles were passed out by police personnel wearing jackets that read “Peer Support.”
