A veteran Chicago police officer was shot twice early Monday during an attempted robbery outside his car as a young child sat inside, authorities said.
While the 34-year-old officer sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and wrist, his wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy said.
The officer's wrist was broken, but the bullet that struck his chest inflicted only superficial damage, the superintendent said.
The wounded officer, Mohammad K. Shamah, has been with Chicago Police Department since 2002.
Officer Shamah was one of about 70 award recipients at the department's annual recognition ceremony last month, earning the Superintendent's Award of Valor for fatally shooting a knife-wielding man who threatened to kill three children.
According to a news release announcing the award, a "man with a knife" call was dispatched, stating a person was threatening to kill three children inside an apartment building.
Responding officers broke a ground-floor window while Shamah went to the second floor.He then entered one of the units and forced his way into a bedroom, when he saw a man holding a knife to one of the children and restraining the others with his legs. "In fear of the safety of the children, Officer Shamah fired his weapon, fatally striking the offender," the released stated.
The release did not state when or where the incident occurred.
"He's obviously shaken up, [but] he's in good spirits," McCarthy said this morning, after visiting the officer at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. "Right now it's as good as it could possibly be."
The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. in the 6300 block of South Nashville Avenue, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said.
The officer had just parked his car and was preparing to take a child out of a car seat when the attacker approached, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.
The officer, who was off-duty at the time, fired in self-defense and may have struck his attacker, McCarthy said.
Early reports suggested the officer's wrist had sustained significant damage in the shooting, said the law enforcement source, who asked to remain anonymous.
Squad cars combed the area after the shooting, but police did not immediately take anyone into custody.
Despite some reports that police were looking for multiple suspects, police were searching for a single attacker, the law enforcement source said.
Police were reviewing video footage and robbery patterns in the area in hopes of identifying a suspect, McCarthy said.
"We're going to catch the guy [who did this]," the superintendent said. "We're going to hold them accountable."
Several family members joined the officer in the hospital after the shooting, the superintendent said. The officer, whose name has not been released, also received a visit from Rev. Daniel J. Brandt, the police department's chaplain.
"I'll say this: God is good," Brandt said afterward. "It could have been a lot worse."
More than a dozen police vehicles responded to the area of the shooting, including a mobile command unit and squad cars from neighboring Oak Lawn.
As they stood across the street from the cordoned-off shooting site, neighbors awakened by the commotion said they had heard about a half a dozen gunshots.
A couple that lives nearby said the officer lives in the neighborhood and had been returning from work.
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Twitter: @AdamSege
Off-duty cop shot; superintendent vows to catch attacker
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Off-duty cop shot; superintendent vows to catch attacker
