Chicago police officers exchanged gunfire with a man, killing him, early Wednesday in the Irving Park neighborhood, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference Wednesday morning.
At 3:08 a.m., Albany Park district officers responded to a call of a person with a gun at a bar in the 3700 block of North Kedzie Avenue, Brown said. A security guard at the bar had heard people arguing outside of the bar and saw a man pointing a gun at people, so he called police.
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The responding officers were directed to a person matching the description given by witnesses and saw the man run toward an alley in the 3700 block of North Troy Street, Brown said.
“There was an apparent exchange of gunfire between the offender and officers,” Brown said.
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The man was shot and died at the scene, Brown said. The man’s age and identity are under investigation.
The man’s firearm, which had an extended magazine, was recovered from the scene, Brown said.
The officers involved were not injured but were taken to a hospital for observation, he said.
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The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating the shooting, Brown said. The officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days.
Two officers were involved, one a 12-year veteran and one a probationary police officer, Brown said. Investigators believe both officers discharged their weapons, according to body camera footage, which captured the shooting. Brown said there will likely be other security video and camera footage from Police Observation Devices, or PODs, that captured the shooting. which hasn’t been reviewed yet.
“As far as anything related to what motivated all of this happening, all we know is what we’ve said at the beginning is that he was pointing a gun at these people near the bar right outside. They called police, police responded and confronted this individual and then that led to this exchange of gunfire,” Brown said.
According to witnesses, the man was inside the bar at one point and was asked to leave, then came back pointing the gun outside, but the events leading up to the shooting are also under investigation, Brown said.
It is not yet known if the man was legally carrying the gun, Brown said.
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