A person was fatally wounded this afternoon when authorities said he exchanged gunfire with police in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.
About 4:20 p.m. police were flagged down near Madison Street and Parkside Avenue by witnesses who said shots had been fired in the area, and officers located a vehicle matching the description reported, according to a preliminary statement from the Office of News Affairs.
A male suspect fled the vehicle on foot and as officers pursued he pointed a weapon at them and fired shots. Police returned fire, striking the suspect, according to the statement. No police were wounded.
Chicago Fire Department paramedics responded about 4:30 p.m. to the scene on the 0-100 block of North Parkside Avenue and took the person in critical condition to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, said fire spokesman Quention Curtis.
Police said the man later was pronounced dead.
A weapon was found on the scene, and no other injuries were reported, police said.
A 15th district officer responding to the report of shots fired began chasing the suspect on foot across a vacant lot when the man fired shots in the officer's direction, according to Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden. The officer didn't immediately return fire because a woman and her baby were walking nearby.
The chase then led into an apartment building on Parkside, where despite the demands from the officer to drop his weapon, the suspect turned at the top of a flight of stairs and again aimed at the officer. The officer then fired, striking the man, Camden said.
Camden praised the officer for not firing his gun when the woman and child were nearby, despite being fired upon.
"That's a pretty good sign of professionalism," Camden said. "The officer is very heroic."
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