Chicago police officer shot and seriously wounded while trying to stop car in Englewood

A Chicago police officer was shot and seriously wounded while she and her partner were trying to stop a car in Englewood on the South Side Wednesday evening.

The shooting happened around 5:45 p.m. in the 6100 block of South Paulina Street in the 7th police district, which covers Englewood and West Englewood, according to police spokesman Tom Ahern.

Two officers in a marked squad car tried to stop a car but it sped off, then slowed allowing the officers to pull alongside. Shots were fired from the car and the officer behind the wheel was hit in the shoulder, Police Supt. David Brown said at a news conference Wednesday evening.

Her partner jumped into the driver’s seat and took her to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was initially in critical but stable condition. Her name had not been released.

Two people fled on foot after crashing the car near 64th and Bishop streets. A SWAT team searched nearby buildings but no one was arrested. A gun and car keys were recovered near the scene, Brown said.

Late Wednesday night, a crowd of officers at the hospital applauded as the partner walked out and got into a waiting car.

The shooting occurred less than a mile from where Chicago Police Officer Ella French was killed and her partner seriously wounded Aug. 7 last year in West Englewood. The officers were shot during a traffic stop at 63rd Street and Bell Avenue and returned fire, hitting and wounding at least one suspect, police said.

Brian Rich/Sun-Times

Brown said the latest shooting “highlights the danger of this job.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot released a statement calling the shooting an “outrageous attack.”

“My family and I will be praying for the injured officer and the entire department as they grapple with yet another heinous and deliberate assault on our officers’ lives,” the statement read. “I have asked the superintendent to use every resource possible to find the person responsible for this attempted murder of a police officer and bring them to justice.”

Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) also released a statement Wednesday evening asking residents to share any information they may have.

“Today’s senseless shooting has placed a dark cloud over our city tonight,” the statement read. “There is no bigger cheerleader of our ‘good’ police officers than me. I am appealing to any of our residents who may have witnessed this cowardly act to dial 911 and give a detailed statement of what was witnessed.”