Family ‘hopeful and praying’ after wounded Chicago police officer’s surgery

A Chicago Police officer, who was seriously wounded in a shooting during a traffic stop in West Englewood that killed his partner over the weekend, underwent surgery Tuesday at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

“He is better,” the officer’s father told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday. “They still have not removed the bullets in his head ‘cause they can’t, but we’re hopeful and praying.”

The encouraging news comes two days after Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said the wounded officer, who was shot twice in the head and once in the right shoulder and had been fighting for his life, was “incrementally improving.”

The Sun-Times is not identifying the officer or his father because the officer is the victim of a violent crime. The officer’s name also has not been released by the Chicago Police Department.

Earlier this week, the officer’s father described the tragedy as his family’s “darkest moment.” He said his son is a “great husband, father, son and brother.”

Around 9 p.m. Saturday in the 2200 block of West 63rd Street, a three-officer car assigned to CPD’s Community Safety Team pulled over a car with expired plates. During the traffic stop, Emonte Morgan, one of the car’s passengers, allegedly opened fire, fatally striking 29-year-old Chicago Police Officer Ella French and seriously wounding her partner, Cook County prosecutors said.

The third officer returned fire, wounding Morgan in the abdomen, according to prosecutors.

Emonte Morgan, 21, and his brother Eric Morgan, 22, have been charged in the shooting and face felony charges. Both were ordered held without bail Tuesday in separate court hearings.