A person of interest is in custody in relation to the shooting death of Cook County Sheriff Deputy Rafael Wordlaw, according to police.
Wordlaw was at a gas station on the 500 block of East 67th Street in Woodlawn just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when police said he became the target of an attempted armed robbery.
Authorities said a suspect pulled out a gun, prompting off-duty officer Wordlaw to do the same. The suspect shot him in the chest and ran away. Wordlaw was able to drive himself a half-mile down the road where his car crashed and came to a stop.
He later died at the University of Chicago Hospital.
"[He was] an amazing person... and he was always there for everybody else," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told NBC Chicago. "This amazing person who was taken from everybody was, like he had been to many people, he was a hero."
The 31-year-old was a correctional officer and had been with the department for five years. Dart spoke with Wordlaw's mother Tuesday.
“She was telling me about him, and how the job had meant so much to him. His father was a Chicago police officer and they used to call him ‘officer friendly,’ and he wanted to carry on the family tradition,” he said.
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A procession brought his body to the Medical Examiner's office Tuesday morning, while a deputy is parked outside of his home.
According to Chicago police and Cook County Sheriff data, this marks the fifth officer struck by gunfire between the two departments this year, while 37 CPD officers have been shot at since January 1.
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Wordlaw went to Urban Prep Academy and graduated from Indiana State University, where he studied criminal justice. He would be turning 32 years old in just 11 days.
