An off-duty Chicago police officer shot and critically injured a man armed with a toy pistol after he and another man allegedly tried to mug the officer Monday afternoon in an alley near his Southwest Side home, police said.
The officer, a nine-year veteran assigned to the Marquette District, was on an errand in the 6200 block of South Kolmar Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. when two men emerged from an alley, poked the fake gun in the officer’s stomach and announced a robbery, police spokesman David Bayless said.
After a struggle, one suspect stepped away and pulled what appeared to be a real pistol, Bayless said. The officer, “in fear for his life,” fired one round from his service weapon, hitting the man with the toy gun in the arm, he said.
Bayless said the bullet pierced the suspect’s arm and entered his torso, and that the officer announced he was an officer before shooting.
The shooting is under investigation by the police Office of Professional Standards.
