Third Chicago Cop Commits Suicide Since July

CHICAGO (CBS)-- A female Chicago police officer fatally shot herself Wednesday morning at the Calumet District police station, marking the third suicide of a Chicago police officer since July.

Two officers died at that same 5th District South Side police station in July of this year. One officer committed suicide and one had a heart attack.

Officer Brandon Krueger, 36, killed himself in the parking lot with his service weapon on July 8. Two days later, 47-year-old Vinita Williams died of a heart attack at the same police station.

On Labor Day, 47-year-old officer Steven Bechina committed suicide inside his vehicle on first block of North Desplaines, in the city's Near West Side.

The identity of the 54-year-old female officer who died Wednesday has not yet been released. Police said she was scheduled to report for duty, and was found inside her personal vehicle in the parking lot of the police station.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that suicide is a problem in the Chicago Police Department.

"We all have our breaking points, a time of weakness where we feel as if there is no way out, no alternative," Johnson said in the statement. "But it does not have to end that way. You are not alone. Death by suicide is a problem that we can eliminate together."

Johnson said mental health counselors were being made available to members of the 5th District on Wednesday following the suicide.

In:
• Chicago Police Department