The Civilian Office of Police Accountability on Thursday released body-worn camera footage of a harrowing late-October shootout between Chicago police officers and a now-deceased hate crime suspect in the West Rogers Park neighborhood.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 26, a 39-year-old Orthodox Jewish man was in the 2600 block of West Farwell Avenue when someone approached from behind and shot him in the shoulder, police previously said. Neighbors came to the aid of the wounded man while the shooter remained in the area.
The video footage released Thursday shows Chicago Police Department officers responding to the scene of the initial shooting before the suspect, 22-year-old Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, darted out of an alley and opened fire on a CPD officer and Chicago Fire Department ambulance.
Bodycam footage from one officer captured a plume of smoke from the barrel of Abdallahi’s gun. COPA records indicate five of the 10 responding CPD officers fired their weapons, and dozens of gunshots can be heard over about three minutes.
Abdallahi was struck several times and taken into custody. He was eventually charged with attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, hate crime and terrorism.
Abdallahi was found dead in his Cook County Jail cell on Nov. 30. The county medical examiner’s office said as of Dec. 19 that his cause and manner of death have yet to be determined, though the sheriff’s office previously said Abdallahi suffered an “apparent suicide attempt.”
