Two Chicago police officers were shot and injured — apparently by one bullet — on Wednesday night after a third officer accidentally discharged his handgun during a struggle with a man while investigating a homicide, officials said.
The officer fired his weapon once, and one officer was struck in the arm and another in the shoulder, David Brown, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, said during a news conference.
It was “likely a through and through for one officer into another officer,” Superintendent Brown said. The officer who fired his weapon was not injured, the superintendent said, adding, “Obviously it’s very traumatic to have accidentally have this happen.”
The three officers were not immediately identified. The injured ones were taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Ill., a small city just outside Chicago, and they “seem to be in decent, good condition,” the superintendent said.
The episode began around 9:15 p.m. on South Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, where officers spotted a car that “license plate reader technology” linked to a homicide investigation, Superintendent Brown said.
The driver traveled about 15 miles west to a gas station in Lyons, Ill. At the station, a man exited the vehicle and was surrounded by police officers, Superintendent Brown said. A struggle ensued.
During the confrontation, Superintendent Brown said, “one of our officers who has his handgun out during this struggle has an accidental discharge of his weapon, likely striking two of our officers.”
The man who struggled with the officers and another occupant of the vehicle were taken into custody. They were not immediately identified. A weapon was recovered from inside the vehicle, Superintendent Brown said.
The police did not release further information on the connection between the two people taken into custody and the homicide investigation that touched off the pursuit.
“We’re following up on their connection,” Superintendent Brown said.
The officer who fired his handgun will be reassigned to administrative duties while the shooting is investigated, Superintendent Brown said, calling the reassignment standard procedure.
The shooting comes as Chicago, which has struggled to contain gun violence, has experienced an increase in shootings this year. There have been more than 2,800 shootings in the city through the middle of October, a 9 percent increase from a year earlier, according to police data.