Cop charged with shooting son served as police chief in suburbs

A sergeant with the west suburban Indian Head Park Police Department has been charged with attempted murder in connection with a domestic-related shooting early Tuesday in the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The shooting happened about 2:30 a.m. in the 6200 block of South Nashville, according to Chicago Police.

Raymond Leuser III, 48, was taken into custody after the shooting and charged with felony counts of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, police said Wednesday night. He lives in the block where the shooting occurred.

The victim, a 22-year-old man, was shot in the arm, leg and abdomen, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition.

Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that Leuser is an officer with the Indian Head Police Department and the victim is his son.

An employee with the Indian Head Park Police Department, who only gave her first name as “Linda,” said, “Our thoughts are with the family” and that the shooting is “under investigation.” She hung up when asked for specifics on Leuser employment status.

According to its website, the Indian Head Park Police Department has 26 employees, with 15 of them working part-time.

Leuser is the second-highest ranking member of the department, behind Chief Robert Cervenka.

Before Cervenka was appointed to chief, Leuser served as interim chief of the Indian Head Park Police Department, records show.

After Cervenka was appointed, the village of Indian Head Park drafted a resolution “thanking and honoring Sgt. Ray Leuser who served very capably and honorably as our interim chief of police.”

Leuser was expected to appear in bond court Thursday in Chicago.