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Update…. 800 N Wells Shooting, leaves officers wounded and suspect dead

by Larry Lubell

Update

Urban Insurance has been at 800 N Wells for over five years; while I would not describe the area as “Quite;” I have always thought it to be safe. Yes, there is never a day that I’m not approached by a panhandler asking for money, though annoying, I have never had any occasions where I felt threatened. I do walk to work each day and home each night, I admit to being aware of my surroundings, even going as far as to alter my path when it seems the wise choice.

Yesterday did effect my impression of potential danger of being on the streets in Chicago. But did I still walk home at near 7:00pm yesterday, yes? I had stayed late to answer questions from the police as well as reporters. This morning investigators from the Independent Police Review Authority were at Urban Insurance, questioning employees about all they heard and saw. It points out just how difficult police work can be. Here we were placed in a near perfect vantage point to see and hear all that transpired, I took pictures from my window; yet I could add very little, quickly realizing that it was so difficult to distinguish between what I saw and my interpretation of what I saw.I will say that the team sent by the Independent Police Review Authority, were profesional and went to lengths not to “Lead” but simply to record our recollections.

Gunshots ring out in River North; officers wounded and suspect dead

BY MICHAEL LANSU, MARK KONKOL AND KIM JANSSEN Staff Reporters

Street scene where two Chicago police officers were wounded on the southwest corner Chicago and Wells.

The unmarked squad car in the lower left corner of photo was the car involved in the shooting. |

Photo by Larry Lubell

A Chicago Police officer was shot, a second was injured and a suspect was killed in a River North shootout this afternoon, officials said.Emergency crews and detectives are currently swarming the intersection of Chicago and Wells, where the shootout happened.

The suspect was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford.

Two police officers were transported to the same hospital, Langford said. One had been shot but is “doing well” and the second sustained a hand injury, he said.

A witness who asked not to be identified told the Chicago Sun-Times she saw two men get out of a light metallic blue BMW just east of Wells on Chicago and start firing at an unmarked police car. The officer driving the car appeared to lose control after shots were fired and the squad car crashed into a post at the intersection, the witness said.

The two alleged offenders continued to shoot while they approached the police car. The men had dragged an officer out of the car onto the street when uniformed police officers arrived at the scene, the witness said.

The alleged shooters put their hands in the air and appeared to be taken into custody, the witness said.

“It was crazy,” the witness said. An unmarked squad car is sitting near the intersection, against a light pole. Several of its windows —including the rear window and the rear passenger side — are shattered. The car is sitting just in front of the Moody Bible Institute. Spent shells are lying on the street, marked by evidence tags. Traffic is stopped on Wells and Chicago in the area.

Larry Lubell, owner of Urban Insurance Agency, heard what he thought was a car backfiring from his office window on the corner of Chicago and Wells.

“At first I thought people were pushing a car, then I realized it was an unmarked squad car. It was moving and police officers were jumping out,” Lubell said.

Lubell snapped photos on his iPhone as the squad came to a rest on the sidewalk and officers scattered.

“They were running north on Wells, trying to get out of harm’s way … and then they started running west on Chicago,” Lubell said.

Witnesses said a series of shots rang out at first, and then another series followed. Kim Mehilos, out on a cigarette break from her coffee shop, said the shooting was between 3:50 and 4 p.m.

“I was on break outside having a cigarette. There were a bunch of shots — between eight and 10. No one seemed to be reacting,” she said. “There was one shot and then a pause and then another one. Then a series of shots, and it stopped. Then there was one or two more. I didn’t think it was gunshots because no one on the street was reacting. But you can see now it clearly was a shooting.”

Tags: 800 N Wells