A person was shot by police Monday after using a fire escape to gain entry to a Chicago police facility in North Lawndale, then grabbing a gun he found and aiming it at officers, a law enforcement source told the Sun-Times.
The shooting happened around noon on the fifth floor of the police department’s Homan Square facility at 1011 S. Homan Ave., according to police communications.
After climbing the fire escape to gain access to the building, the person grabbed at least one gun from a table inside, the source said. He aimed at officers who were in the middle of a training session and was shot.
The person was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.
An officer was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center but did not suffer a gunshot wound, the fire department said. The nature of the officer’s injuries weren’t immediately known.
No other details were released by police.
After the shooting, officers cordoned off streets and directed traffic around the Homan Square facility, a former Sears, Roebuck & Co. warehouse. A police spokeswoman urged members of the media not to photograph officers around the facility because they may be working undercover or doing other sensitive work.
The Homan Square compound houses the police department’s Evidence and Recovered Property Section and also serves as a hub for undercover operations and the counterterrorism bureau.
The facility earned a shadowy reputation after the Guardian published a series of stories in 2015 likening it to a CIA “black site” where suspects have allegedly been “disappeared” and subjected to off-the-books questioning and abuse.
The department pushed back on the Guardian’s claims at the time, saying it “abides by all laws, rules and guidelines pertaining to any interviews of suspects or witnesses, at Homan Square or any other CPD facility.”
Still, the department has faced a series of lawsuits over alleged abuse at the facility, and activists have demanded it closed.
