A police chase originating in Hammond, Indiana crossed state lines Saturday and ended in Chatham on the South Side with a woman shot by officers and a toddler injured in a crash. NBC 5’s Lisa Chavarria has the latest.
An incident that started with an armed robbery in Hammond led to a two-state police chase, officer-involved shooting and crash on Saturday evening on Chicago's South Side, police said.
Hammond police were first called at around 12 p.m. Saturday to a reported armed robbery in the 6400 block of Indianapolis Boulevard. Two victims told officers that a man approached them with a gun and demanded their items while they were stopped at a railroad crossing.
Officers spoke with two men, 66 and 73, who said they were stopped at a train crossing, got out to get a bottle of water from the bed of their truck and were robbed at gunpoint by the male passenger of a silver Chevrolet sedan that had stopped behind them, police said.
The victims had exited their pick-up truck to get bottled water out of its bed. The suspect was reportedly riding in a silver or gray sedan, according to a news release from Hammond police.
A few minutes later, police received a call about shots fired in the area of 173rd Street and Calumet Avenue. A woman told police that a silver or gray sedan cut her off, and when both vehicles approached a stoplight, the male passenger started yelling at her.
The man then reportedly got out of the vehicle with a gun in his hand. The suspect eventually got back in the passenger seat, and allegedly fired a shot at the victim as his car drove by.
At around 4:45 p.m., the victim in the shots fired incident called police, and told officers she observed the male suspect near 169th Street and Calumet Avenue. When officers found the suspect, he ran into a vehicle that matched the description of the one involved in the earlier crimes, police said. Officers then chased the vehicle into Chicago.
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The vehicle eventually crashed in the 8000 block of South King Drive, authorities said, on the city's South Side, and the suspect was taken into custody.
"All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a car comes barrelling down the street, up onto the curb with police cars chasing him, and he blows into a telephone pole," witness Rich Nayer said.
Hammond police pursued them until the sedan crashed in the 8000 block of South King Drive, authorities said. A Hammond police officer fired his weapon, striking a 22-year-old woman who was described as a suspect. She was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in fair-to-serious condition for treatment, a Chicago Fire Department spokesperson said.
A male suspect was also taken into custody, Hammond police said.
A 3-year-old girl was also injured in the crash and was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in fair-to-serious condition, according to fire officials. It was unclear if she was in the car with the suspects that were pursued by police.
Two men, 33 and 32, were taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, the first in good condition and the second in fair-to-serious condition, fire officials said. One of them is believed to be a police officer.
Chicago police responded as the Hammond officer fired shots, Chicago police said.
