Suspect in Custody After Chicago Hospital Transport Shooting Wounds Two Officers
Two Chicago officers were shot inside Swedish Hospital after a prisoner transport went sideways, and the suspect was later caught after a neighborhood search.
A routine hospital stop turned into a police shooting inside Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital in Ravenswood, where two Chicago police officers were shot and a suspect was later taken into custody. The gunfire hit inside a public medical center on North California Avenue, the kind of setting that turns an already volatile custody move into a citywide alarm.
The first shots were reported late Saturday morning, around 10:45 a.m. to 11 a.m., while officers were transporting a prisoner connected to a separate offense. Police sources said the prisoner was being brought to the hospital to be checked out before going to jail, and that the shooting broke out during that operation. One source said the suspect disarmed an officer before opening fire, a detail that explains how quickly the scene shifted from escort to active manhunt.
By the time the chaos settled, one officer had been taken to a local hospital in critical condition, and another was also reported in critical condition. ABC News said the hospital went on lockdown, while the hospital itself said there was no active threat inside and that patients and staff were safe. The campus was closed as law enforcement took over the investigation.
The search did not stay contained to the hospital. Sources said the gunman fled into the Lincoln Square neighborhood and barricaded himself inside a nearby residence before being captured around 12:10 p.m. Alderperson Andre Vasquez told residents to shelter in place or avoid the area as police blocked streets around Swedish Hospital and swarmed the surrounding blocks.
That breach is what makes this case stand out: a custody-related stop at a hospital, one of the most controlled public settings in the city, still ended in gunfire, lockdown, and a neighborhood manhunt. The next questions are the ones investigators will have to answer fast: how the weapon was introduced, exactly how the officer was disarmed, and whether the wounded officers’ conditions change as the hospital and police continue their review.
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