Car sought in off-duty cop’s shooting is found; investigators share video of suspects

Chicago Police on Tuesday found a vehicle they had been looking for in connection with the shooting of an off-duty officer the day before in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.

The black Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross was found abandoned near 92nd Street and Williams Avenue, according to Chicago police spokesman Tom Ahern.

Investigators were seen Tuesday afternoon gathering evidence from that scene in the West Chesterfield neighborhood, about three miles west of where the officer was ambushed by two gunmen Monday afternoon. The Mitsubishi’s horn could be heard wailing shortly before it was towed at 2:45 p.m.

A citywide alert issued after the shooting stated the car had been rented fraudulently from Avis.

No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon, and there were no other updates in the case, Ahern said in a text message. The officer remained in fair condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center, he said.

Chicago Police Department

Shortly after the car was found, detectives released surveillance video of two people wanted in connected to the shooting. The video shows two masked people in dark-colored clothing. One had black, red and yellow shoes and a hooded sweatshirt with a Bible verse printed on it.

Two suspects allegedly drove off in the Mitsubishi after shooting the off-duty officer, who was stopped at a traffic light at 89th Street and Stony Island Avenue.

Three other CPD officers responded, and found the officer shot in his lower abdomen. Theyrushed him in a squad car to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police Supt. David Brown said Monday. The officers performed first aid on the officer on the way to the hospital.

The wounded officer — a four-year CPD veteran who works in the 4th District — was alert after being shot, according to Brown, who said the family asked the department not to release his name.

Brown called the responding officers “heroic women” who “likely saved his life” with their intervention and quick thinking. Brown said it was too early in the investigation to tell if the officer was being carjacked.

He was the second CPD officer shot in just two days. On Sunday, an on-duty Chicago police sergeant was shot while standing in the parking lot of the Gresham District police station, at 7808 S. Halsted St. The bullet grazed his chin. The officer was treated at a hospital and released later that day.

Chicago police investigate the scene where an off-duty Chicago police officer was shot in the 8900 block of South Stony Island Ave. in Calumet Heights, Monday, March 15, 2021. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

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Chicago police investigate the scene where an off-duty Chicago police officer was shot in the 8900 block of South Stony Island Ave. in Calumet Heights, Monday, March 15, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot listens as Chicago Police Supt. David Brown gives the media an update on an officer’s condition and investigation after the shooting of the off-duty police officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park, Monday afternoon, March 15, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Chicago police investigate the scene where an off-duty Chicago police officer was shot in the 8900 block of South Stony Island Ave. in Calumet Heights, Monday, March 15, 2021. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

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Chicago police officers wait in the hallway at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park to hear news about a fellow officer who was shot while in his personal vehicle, Monday afternoon, March 15, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Chicago police investigate the scene where an off-duty Chicago police officer was shot in the 8900 block of South Stony Island Ave. in Calumet Heights, Monday, March 15, 2021. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

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Chicago police investigate the scene where an off-duty Chicago police officer was shot in the 8900 block of South Stony Island Ave. in Calumet Heights, Monday, March 15, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot listens as Chicago Police Supt. David Brown gives the media an update on an officer’s condition and investigation after the shooting of the off-duty police officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park, Monday afternoon, March 15, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Chicago Police Supt. David Brown gives the media an update on an officer’s condition and investigation after the shooting of the off-duty police officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park, Monday afternoon, March 15, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Chicago Police Supt. David Brown walks out to speak to media after the shooting of an off-duty police officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Monday afternoon, March 15, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Contributing: Tyler LaRiviere, Madeline Kenney