A 55-year-old woman was fatally shot by a Chicago Police officer Friday in the North Center neighborhood on the North Side.
The woman was shot at 3944 N. Western Ave., according to the Chicago Fire Department and police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. She was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she died.
On Saturday, the Cook County medical examiner’s office identified her as Michele Robey. She lived in the Hollywood Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
About 5:45 p.m. police were called to the CVS store at Irving Park and Western because a woman inside was threatening store employees with a knife, according to Al Nagode, the Area North Deputy Chief of Patrol.
As officers arrived, CVS employees told them the woman had since left and was standing at a bus stop on Western.
At the bus stop, she continued to brandish the knife and made threats toward the officers, Nagode said. She made lunging motions at the officers, who tried to use a stun gun to subdue her, he said.
The stun gun had no effect and officers tried to use it once more to subdue her, again to no effect, Nagode said.
She again lunged at officers, who each fired one shot, police said.
Darryl Dixon, 55, said he was at the gas station across street when he saw police arrive. Dixon said officers’ interaction with woman lasted 15 to 20 minutes.
“I saw the young woman walk toward me, and she had Taser wires hanging off the back of her jacket,” Dixon said.
Dixon said once the woman lunged at the two officers and he heard two shots fired, he was in shock as he saw the woman fall to the ground.
“The male officer said, ‘You should have dropped the knife. An ambulance is coming now,’” Dixon said. “I just said, ‘No.’ Because it happened about 20 to 30 feet in front of me. Just another person hurt.”
No injuries to officers were reported, police said. The officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for a period of 30 days.
The Independent Police Review Authority was investigating the use of force, spokeswoman Mia Sissac said.
