Police were conducting a manhunt this evening after an off-duty Chicago police officer exchanged gunfire with at least two would-be robbers this afternoon on the Far Northwest Side, authorities said.
No one was injured in the incident about 5:45 p,m. near Lunt and Algonquin avenues, not far from the city’s border with Niles, police said. As of 7:45 p,m., police were conducting a manhunt for the suspects, believed to be traveling in a purple Honda CRV.
A window of the vehicle apparently was also broken.
A man who owns a store near Addison and Elston avenues had pulled into his driveway near Lunt and Algonquin, when the Honda pulled up behind him, police said. The robbers, wearing masks, got out of the Honda with guns drawn and tried to rob the man.
Soon after, the off-duty officer, who works security at the man’s store, pulled up behind the robbers’ vehicle, apparently thwarting the robbery, police said.
The officer exchanged gunfire with the robbers, but no one was hit, police said.
The suspects fled the scene in the Honda.
The victim hired the off-duty officer as a security officer recently after being robbed a few weeks ago, police said.
Chicago police cordoned off the 6900 block of North Algonquin Tuesday night, an upper middle-class area lined with single-family homes. A forensics services van and another from the detective division sat in the middle of the block, along with four marked police SUVs.
Another police truck hoisted two bright beams of light across the street from a two-story home, with its garage door open and two cars in the driveway. An evidence technician snapped photos of another truck parked in front of the home.
That home was cordoned off with red tape.
