Two Chicago police officers shot at hospital, one critically injured
Gunfire inside Swedish Hospital left two Chicago officers wounded, one critically, before the suspect fled into Lincoln Square and was captured.
A place built for safety turned into a crime scene Saturday when two Chicago police officers were shot inside Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital on the North Side, leaving one of them in critical condition and forcing the campus into lockdown as officers searched for the gunman.
The shooting was reported around 11 a.m. at the hospital in Lincoln Square. Endeavor Health said the campus was closed while law enforcement led the investigation, and officials said there was no active threat inside the building. The Chicago Fire Department confirmed that two people were injured. By midday, the suspect was in custody, according to Ald. Andre Vasquez, whose office urged people in the area to shelter in place and avoid the neighborhood.
Local reporting described a chaotic scene that began with a prisoner inside the hospital who managed to get hold of a gun. Law-enforcement sources also said the shooter disarmed one of the officers before opening fire. The gunman then fled the hospital and hid in a nearby residence in Lincoln Square before being taken into custody. Vasquez’s office said the suspect was in custody by about 12:40 p.m.
The officers were transferred to Illinois Masonic, where they were listed in critical condition, according to CBS Chicago. Chicago police had not publicly released the officers’ identities, the suspect’s identity, or the circumstances that led to the shooting. The incident raised immediate questions about how a gun entered a medical facility and what security protocols were in place for police handling a prisoner inside a hospital setting.
Swedish Hospital, long a fixture on Chicago’s North Side, serves patients, staff and visitors who expect emergency rooms and treatment floors to remain secure even when police are present. Saturday’s shooting shattered that expectation and put the hospital’s security procedures under intense scrutiny as investigators worked to piece together how a routine hospital encounter escalated into an armed attack.
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