An off-duty Chicago police officer was fatally shot in the city's Avalon Park neighborhood early Saturday morning, police confirmed.
Police said that officers responded to calls of shots fired in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue just after 1:40 a.m.
Upon arrival, responding officers discovered a female off-duty officer with multiple gunshot wounds. She was rushed from a squad car to University of Chicago Hospital where she succumbed to her wounds, according to interim CPD Supt. Eric Carter.
Circumstances surrounding the initial shooting are unknown, and police have not identified the officer who was killed.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a press conference early Saturday that she talked with the officer's family, who is "completely shattered."
"I won't speak for her mother," Lightfoot said, "but I can tell you that she poured everything she could into her child. No mother wants to wake up to the tragic news their child is dead and to something as awful and tragic as gunfire."
Lightfoot said she directed Interim Chicago Police Supt. Eric Carter to "spare no expense to make sure we find the people responsible for this and bring them to justice."
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"Right now we ask you keep the officer and her family in your prayers, as well as the men and women of CPD who sacrifice everything, including their lives on the line, for this city everyday," said Carter during the press conference. "We ask you keep us in our prayers and keep them uplifted. Thank an officer for the hard work they do each and every day to protect this city."
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson issued the following statement Saturday morning:
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"This is a profound tragedy, and my heart breaks for the family of the young officer who was murdered early this morning on her way home from work. I’m outraged and devastated by this horrific violence against a public servant, and I will do everything I can to support her family and the Chicago Police Department through this traumatic time. I pray that her killer is apprehended quickly so that justice may be served."
“That a public servant was killed in the middle of the night underlines the fierce urgency of the public safety crisis in our city. My top priority is building a better, stronger, safer Chicago where all our residents can live and work free from the threat of violence," Johnson's statement said.
"Our hearts are broken once again," police spokesman Tom Ahern wrote on Twitter, asking for residents to "please remember her and her family in your prayers."
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office has identified the slain officer as 24-year-old Areanah Preston. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday.
There is currently no further information as police continue to investigate.
