Chicago police officers fatally shot a man Saturday afternoon during a foot chase in the Lawndale neighborhood, according to officials.
Officers approached the 30-year-old man shortly after 3:30 p.m. as he walked in the 1400 block of South Lawndale Avenue, CPD Sgt. Michael Malinowski told reporters at the scene.
The officers started chasing the man through the block, shooting him in a gangway during the second of two “armed confrontations” during the pursuit, Malinowski said. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
A spokesman for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, a police oversight agency, said the man was shot multiple times after he pointed a gun at the officers. The COPA spokesman could not confirm initial reports that there had been an exchange of gunfire between the man and officers.
The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, but died shortly after, according to police and fire officials. His identity has not been released.
A 42-year-old officer was taken to Rush University Medical Center to be treated for chest pain and an injured ankle, according to the Fire Department.
It wasn’t immediately clear why officers initially stopped the man. The COPA spokesman said officers “saw a bulge” in the man’s waist, but Malinowski said that “immediately upon contact he was discovered to be armed.”
Two officers fired their weapons over the course of the entire incident, which spanned two locations on the same block, the COPA spokesman said.
The involved officers will be placed on 30-day paid administrative leave, per department policy.
Neighbors gathered under the light rain as a couple dozen officers worked the scene, which was taped off outside Frazier Preparatory Academy. Several blocks surrounding the scene were blocked to traffic.
Police block the street while investigating an officer-invovled shooting Saturday near Frazier Preparatory School in Lawndale. | Nader Issa
