CHICAGO — Armed robbers fired shots at an off-duty Chicago police officer in the Loop on Saturday morning. Investigators suspect the same holdup crew fired shots at another victim they targeted in River North.
At about 3:50 a.m., an off-duty officer called 911 to report that someone in a red Nissan had shot at her car during a robbery attempt near the intersection of Polk and Federal in the Loop. The officer drove to the Central (1st) District station in the South Loop to continue filing her report.
According to CPD, two men, believed to be conducting a robbery, approached a man on the sidewalk in the first block of West Polk around 3:45 a.m. As they did, the 25-year-old officer arrived in her car. The suspected robbers shot toward the officer, who returned fire. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said it was launching an investigation.
Investigators found shell casings in the first block of West Polk, and the officer’s car had a bullet hole in the rear driver’s side door. Also, a high-rise resident reported that a bullet went through their apartment window in the 700 block of South State. No injuries were reported, but a witness told police they saw a man with a gunshot wound to his hand walk away from the area.
Moments before the gunfire, CPD’s vehicular hijacking task force notified officers in the downtown area that a maroon Nissan Maxima that had been used in at least two robberies was traveling through the Loop in the company of a black Infiniti sedan. Both vehicles were stolen.
Police this morning found the red Nissan abandoned near La Rabida Children’s Hospital, not far from 67th Street Beach.
About 25 minutes before the off-duty officer was targeted, a group of people reported that two masked men in a red sedan robbed them at gunpoint as they sat in their car near Clark and Ohio in River North.
The robbers got a phone from one of the victims and then followed the victims’ vehicle into the Loop, where the robbers fired at least one shot near State and Randolph streets, according to initial information. No injuries were reported.
Investigators now suspect that the River North robbery and the incident involving the off-duty officer involved the same robbers. There was some initial speculation that different crews could be involved because the victims provided different suspect descriptions.
