Three suspects were in custody Saturday morning after an exchange of gunfire involving Chicago police in Brighton Park, following a chase that ended in a crash on the Southwest Side. No one was shot.
CPD tactical officers tried to stop a vehicle just before 1:15 a.m. in the 4400-block of South Mozart Street as part of an investigation, and the driver fled. Someone inside the vehicle fired at a CPD vehicle multiple times, police said, setting off a pursuit that ended when the car crashed in the 2900-block of West 47th Street.
Video from the scene showed a crashed car wrapped in fencing. After the crash, the suspects ran on foot, and one of them pulled out a gun and fired at officers. One officer discharged a weapon in response. Three suspects — two males and one female of unknown ages — were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries from the crash, and one officer was transported to a local hospital for observation.
Police took the suspects into custody at the scene and recovered two guns. CPD's Investigative Response Team was on the scene Saturday morning, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability opened an investigation.
The episode fit the pattern that follows police gunfire incidents in Chicago: the officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for at least 30 days while the review proceeds. What matters now is not whether anyone was struck — no one was — but how a stop in Brighton Park turned into a shooting, a crash and a second burst of gunfire in the span of minutes.
