Police were questioning a 15-year-old boy and several adults Friday after an early-morning standoff on the South Side triggered by the shooting of an Englewood District patrol officer.
The officer suffered a graze wound to the cheek and was hospitalized only briefly.
Police said the boy surrendered about 7:20 a.m. to a large team of officers who had surrounded the brick two-flat in the 5600 block of South Elizabeth Street for nearly five hours where the boy and several other people were holed up inside.
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Soon after taking the boy into custody, police said an adult in the home may have fired the shots, then made the teen take the blame because he would likely face only juvenile charges. The boy allegedly has admitted to firing the shot while providing security for a drug operation run out of the house but claimed he did not know he was firing at an officer, police said. The officer was dressed in street clothes at the time, police said.
Neighbors said gunfire could be heard for much of Thursday night around Elizabeth Street in the depressed and often violent Englewood area where many trees are pinned with signs reading “Stop the Violence.”
“Lately, it’s been a lot of shooting out here,” said Will George, who continued shaving a customer’s beard at Garfield Barber Shop despite the ongoing standoff around the corner.
“Bam, bam, bam every night,” agreed longtime resident Lorrina O’Neal, who said she was too afraid of gangs to call police.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Friday, reports of shots being fired sent police to South Elizabeth Street. Police spokesman Pat Camden said officers saw nothing when they drove down the street, so they parked their cars to check out the scene on foot.
Moments later, officers saw the flash of gunfire from the roof of a building and one of the officers felt the scrape of a bullet across his right cheek, Camden said.
The shooters retreated inside the building, a frequent scene of gunfire, and police soon filled the neighborhood, keeping residents inside and blocking off neighboring streets. Officers trained in hostage incidents tried to negotiate with those inside the home, but the situation dragged on for hours until police learned someone was prepared to surrender.
Police and neighbors said the teen walked out of the home with his hands on his head.