A police shootout at a busy intersection in Hickory Hills Tuesday night left a suspect in an armed robbery dead, police say.
Hickory Hills police Chief Adam Gulczynski said officers responded about 8:45 p.m. Thursday to a call of a vehicle robbery attempt in a parking lot near 95th Street and Roberts Road.
The suspect was found in the parking lot of a nearby gas station, where he attempted to run away and began firing at officers with a handgun, Gulczynski said.
One officer fired back, and the suspect went down an alley on the 9400 block of Roberts Road while continuing to shoot at police, he said. The suspect was found with a gunshot wound to the head that Gulczynski said appeared to be self-inflicted.
“I’m pretty convinced that the fatal wound wasn’t from us,” Gulczynski said. “We had an exchange of gunfire. We’re still working on determining the extent of things, but informally, he didn’t run a block or half a block with a hole in his head.”
Phil Tsoukanaras, manager of The Pit Rib House near the scene, said Friday he wasn’t working when the shooting occurred, but police told the on-duty manager to keep employees and patrons inside. He said it was a slow night and the restaurant closed soon after.
“They told him that something happened outside and nobody go out,” Dsoukanaras said. “That’s all we know.”
Police brought the suspect to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at about 9:30 p.m. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not released the name or autopsy results, but listed him as 42 years old.
An officer was taken to the hospital for a minor leg injury and later released, Gulczynski said.
“And then we had him checked out just because, you know, somebody attempted to kill him,” Gulczynski said.
Hickory Hills Police Department is cooperating with Illinois State Police’s Public Integrity Task Force, which is investigating use of force on the part of officers.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
