Police: Prognosis ‘good’ for officer shot in chest on Southeast Side
BY KIM JANSSEN ANd LEEANN SHELTON Staff Reporters March 19, 2012 11:42PM
Outside the emergency department of Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where Chicago Police Officer Del Pearson was recovering Tuesday from a bullet wound. | John H. White~Sun-Times
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Updated: April 21, 2012 8:16AM
Chicago police say the prognosis of an officer shot in the chest Monday night on the Southeast Side is good after doctors were able to stem bleeding.
The officer had been transferred to the intensive care unit at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn following surgery Tuesday morning, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said.
On Tuesday morning, the Chicago Police Dept. said doctors were able to stem bleeding and the officer’s prognosis was good.
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy spoke to reporters outside the hospital Tuesday morning and said officers executed two search warrants overnight and were questioning a 20-year-old person of interest.
Police spoke with several other witnesses and do believe they know where the gun involved in the shooting is located, McCarthy said. It was also possible officers are searching for a second weapon.
The shooting happened during a footchase in the 8400 block of South Kingston Avenue at 10:45 p.m., according to a police News Affairs statement. Police stopped to question a group of four apparent curfew violators when the suspect took off and the officer followed down an alley and into a front yard where the suspect opened fire.
Officers recovered 9mm shell casings at the scene, McCarthy said.
The wounded officer is a 47-year-old tactical officer assigned to the South Chicago District and an eight-year veteran of the Chicago Police department, according to the superintendent.
McCarthy said the officer was shot in the left upper-chest just above his bullet-proof vest and that the bullet was still lodged next to his spine as doctors worked to slow the internal bleeding.
Dozens of fellow officers gathered at the hospital anxiously awaiting news of his condition. His wife, two children, mother and pastor were also with him at the hospital Tuesday morning, McCarthy said.
The officer and his partner returned fire and engaged in what McCarthy described as a “gun battle” with the suspect.
It is unclear if the suspect was wounded, Camden said.
The shooting happened just a block away from where a 26-year-old man was gunned down less than a week ago, police said.
Ronald Guidry, of the 8600 block of South Colfax Avenue, was shot in the neck March 14 while sitting in a vehicle in the 8500 block of South Kingston Avenue about 5:45 p.m., police said.
Area South detectives are investigating but no charges had been filed as of early Tuesday.
