Person Questioned After Police Officer Shot
Officer Treated, Released From Hospital

POSTED: 7:34 a.m. CDT May 23, 2005
UPDATED: 10:14 a.m. CDT May 23, 2005


Story by nbc5.com

CHICAGO -- A fourth "person of interest" has been picked up by police in the Sunday morning shooting of an officer.


Detectives have determined that three others already arrested were not involved.

The three men were arrested in a car within a few blocks of the shooting of a Monroe District Tactical Unit officer, just after 2 a.m. Sunday. The officer was shot in an alley behind 2004 S. Leavitt St., according to police News Affairs Director David Bayless.

Two Monroe District Tactical Unit officers had been sent to check a disturbance in an abandoned house in the alley, which is known for gang activity, according to Bayless.

A man fired into their unmarked car, striking one officer in his side below the left armpit. The bullet passed through the officer's body and struck the inside of the back portion of his bulletproof vest, Bayless said.

The officer was treated and released Sunday from Stroger Hospital of Cook County.

While calling for backup, the officers left their vehicle and hid behind a Dumpster.

Blocks away, officers coming to assist them observed a car being driven erratically, stopped it and arrested the three men inside. The officers reportedly saw a 9 mm pistol being tossed out a window and found the gun at 2157 W. 19th St., according to Bayless.

Bayless said at the scene Sunday there had been no determination that the bullet recovered from the officer's vest matched the caliber of the gun thrown from the car.

The men were determined not to have been involved, but police would not say whether they were still held or charged with any other crime.

The next person of interest in the shooting was being questioned Monday at Harrison Area Headquarters, 3151 W. Harrison St., Alfaro said.

The wounded officer, described as "young and very active in the Monroe District," was driven to Stroger Hospital by his partner, Bayless said.

Bayless said neither officer fired shots.

Was he a CAGE unit officer?