‘Keep the officer and her family in your prayers:’ Interim top cop following fatal shooting of off-duty police officer after shift

An officer was shot dead early Saturday shortly after leaving the station following her shift on the city’s South Side, Chicago police said.

Police responded to “shot spotter” calls about 1:45 a.m. in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue in the Avalon Park neighborhood and found the officer, who officials did not identify, with gunshot wounds.

One of the first officers to get there rendered aid, but she was transported to UChicago Medicine where she died, police said.

The officer, who had only been with the police department for three years, had just completed her shift and was assigned to the Calumet District station on the city’s Far South Side.

In a news conference Saturday morning, interim Chicago police Superintendent Eric Carter asked the public “to keep the officer and her family in your prayers, as well as the men and women of the Chicago Police Department, who sacrifice everything — including their lives.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot also spoke. “It’s unfortunate that we’re standing here again today to talk about another tragedy that has befallen one of our bravest citizens,” she said. “I had an opportunity to speak with the family of this officer, who as you might imagine is completely shattered.”

“No mother wants to wake up to the tragic news that their child is dead. And dead to something as awful and tragic as gunfire,” Lightfoot said.

She said she told the interim superintendent to spare no expense in order to find the person or people responsible and bring them to justice.

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Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson released a statement late Saturday morning, calling the slaying a “profound tragedy.”

“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,” Johnson said. “I pray that her killer is apprehended quickly so that justice may be served.”

He said that the fact a police officer was killed in the middle of the night emphasized the public safety crisis in the 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,” he said.

“Our hearts are broken once again,” said Tom Ahern, deputy director of police news affairs. “The Chicago Police Department and the city of Chicago tragically lost one of our own. Our officer was fatally shot while returning home from her tour of duty earlier this morning.”

The police department suffered a similar tragedy earlier this year when officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso was shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic-related call in Gage Park. In that case, Steven Montano, 18, of the 2500 block of South Lawndale, was charged with first-degree murder, weapons charges and interfering with a domestic violence report.

No one was in custody for Saturday’s fatal shooting, and detectives were investigating.

Check back as details emerge.