An off-duty Chicago police officer remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday after she and her daughter were shot in what police called a domestic-related attack outside the daughter’s home in the South Shore neighborhood.
The daughter’s former boyfriend was taken into custody on the Near North Side hours after fleeing with the couple’s 2-year-old son, sources said. The child was found unharmed, police said.
The officer, identified by her former husband as Samella Ramirez, a 24-year veteran, is the fourth Chicago police officer to be shot in a little more than a month in the city.
According to a law enforcement source, Ramirez was waiting in her car about 10 p.m. Tuesday with her daughter and grandson in the 2200 block of East 68th Street to hand over the boy to his father, a former boyfriend of Ramirez’s daughter.
When the father showed up, he became agitated, returned to his car for a 9 mm pistol and opened fire, the source said. He shot Ramirez multiple times, wounding her in the face, neck and both arms, police said. He then chased after the boy’s mother, shooting her in the thigh, police said.
The father was later arrested near the former Cabrini-Green housing development, sources said. A gun was recovered, a source said.
Ramirez, 49, and her daughter, 21, were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Ramirez was listed in critical but stable condition, and her daughter was listed as stable, according to police. The child was also taken to the hospital for observation.
The former husband called Ramirez “a tough cookie” and said she had wanted to be a cop since she was a police explorer at age 10 or 11.
“She’s very good at what she does.” said Ray Ramirez, a former Chicago police sergeant.
Samella Ramirez, who works in the narcotics unit, has received 23 department awards, including 11 honorable mentions, according to police.
At the scene of the shooting, neighbors stood behind yellow tape that blocked off about four blocks on East 68th Street.
“This is crazy, man,” said a 35-year-old man who returned home from work to find police cars outside his building.
“Hopefully, God willing, they’re all right. This is crazy. I lived here four years, and I’ve never seen nothing this close to home,” he added, asking that his name not be used.
Another neighbor, Jimmie Tyler, 66, said he and his wife were in bed in their first-floor condominium when they heard 10 to 12 gunshots.
Tyler said he started to get up, but his wife held him back for fear he would be struck by a stray bullet.
“She snatched me back and told me I wasn’t going no place,” he said in a brief telephone interview.
When the gunfire subsided, Tyler said he went to his front window and saw Ramirez lying on the curb, bleeding and crying for help. He said he called 911.
While the neighborhood has had its share of gun violence over the years, Tyler said he’s never heard shooting in front of his building.
“We’ve had burglaries and stuff like that,” he said. “We’re used to nothing like that (shooting) … in front of our door.”
Tribune reporter Quinn Ford contributed.
jgorner@tribune.com
rsobol@tribune.com
