A suspected burglar was killed and a 19-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department was shot in the arm early Monday morning in the city's Bucktown neighborhood, officials said.
"All the details are being worked out. The officer is in good spirits. He has some pretty significant injuries to his arm, as you can imagine. He's in a lot of pain but he's going to be OK," police Supt. Garry McCarthy told reporters outside John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where the officer was being treated for a gunshot to his left bicep.
The officer was released from the hospital later in the day.
McCarthy and Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said the officer was on his way home from work or had just gotten home when he came upon someone trying to break into a home still under construction on the 1600 block of North Marshfield Avenue at about 3:30 a.m.
The pair struggled, and Camden said the officer's weapon fired, striking the officer in the arm. The officer and the would-be burglar struggled again and the officer shot and killed the attacker, Camden said.
Fire department spokesman Juan Hernandez said the officer is 44 years old.
"He's just another hard-working Chicago policeman," said McCarthy
Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), whose ward covers the neighborhood, said the police district is an active one and that he's always concerned about officer safety.
"It's the 14th District. They do get -- a lot of things happen here, especially since we're right near the highway, but my biggest concern is always the officers," he said.
The Independent Police Review Authority investigates all police-involved shootings.
