An off-duty Chicago police officer was fatally shot Thursday night as he tried to detain a man who had robbed him on a West Side street, department officials said.
Gregory Young, 41, a patrol officer in the Austin District, was taken to Cook County Hospital–where some three dozen colleagues gathered to await word of his condition. Young was pronounced dead at 9:47 p.m., according to hospital administrator Fred Smith.
“His commander said he was very well thought of and very well-respected,” Chicago Police Supt. Matt Rodriguez said as he left the hospital early Friday, after informing Young’s relatives about the incident. “He was a hard-working officer.”
The man who allegedly shot Young also was at County Hospital, listed in critical condition, Smith said. Rodriguez said the man had been shot six or seven times by Young.
Young was a 10-year veteran of the force.
Rodriguez said Young was in his car in the 3500 block of West Lake Street when a man approached and robbed him. Young got out of his car to apprehend the robber, and the two exchanged gunfire, Rodriguez said.
The robber allegedly shot Young once.
Police were interviewing several other people early Friday in connection with the incident, Rodriguez said.
About a half-hour after Young was brought to County Hospital, three dozen sullen-faced police officers gathered in the trauma unit waiting room. Rodriguez talked with investigators in a hallway, waiting for relatives to arrive.
At 11:30 p.m., as televisions in the waiting room blared news accounts that a Chicago police officer had been shot, Young’s family members were brought in to speak with officials.
Rodriguez and two other police administrators gathered together Young’s wife and teenage son and daughter. While standing in a corner of the waiting room, officials informed the family of Young’s death.