By Alexandra Chachkevitch
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO, Ill. — An off-duty Cook County correctional officer was wounded in a shooting early Sunday morning in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, authorities said.
The 34-year-old officer was shot in the hand during an attempted robbery in the 7900 block of South Paulina Street, Chicago Police Department news affairs Officer Janel Sedevic said.
The officer was listed in stable condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Sedevic said.
“It appears the officer is going to be OK,” confirmed Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari.
At the scene of the shooting, a blood trail was on a sidewalk on a corner of the intersection of West 80th and South Paulina streets, which was surrounded by three-story apartment buildings and several one-story houses.
Police officers blocked off the intersection with yellow and red crime scene tape and placed yellow markers near evidence.
Alana Bell, 28, who said the officer is her boyfriend, stood next to the crime scene in her pajamas and house slippers, recounting the details of the shooting to nearby police officers.
Bell said the officer was visiting her after traveling back from a nightclub when the incident occurred.
Bell said she saw a man approach a parked gray car where her boyfriend was sitting with his friends. The man tapped on the passenger window of the car with the barrel of his gun and announced a robbery, she said.
Bell said her boyfriend then got out his gun and the two exchanged gunfire.
“We should have just gone inside,” said Bell, adding that she saw a group of suspicious men walk around in the neighborhood before the incident happened.
Bell said she wrapped her jacket around her boyfriend’s bleeding hand and called 911.
Bell said she has lived in the area for about one year. She recalled that about three months ago someone was shot nearby.
Hearing the sounds of gunshots and police helicopters flying above is not uncommon, she said.
“It’s stressful,” Bell said.
Police said they are are also trying to figure out whether a wounded 21-year-old found walking on sidewalk about two miles away had anything to do with the attempted robbery in Gresham, Sedevic said. At about 3:50 a.m. about two miles southeast of that shooting, the man was discovered in the 8900 block of South Carpenter Street in the Brainerd neighborhood, Sedevic said. He had suffered gunshot wounds to the leg and shoulder and was taken to a hospital, Sedevic said.