Off-duty Lyons police officer involved in shootout in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) — Dozens of officers responded to a shootout that happened during a family reunion in Chicago's Washington Park neighborhood Saturday afternoon, police say. An off-duty Lyons police sergeant was involved, and an innocent bystander was caught in the crossfire. And the investigation now includes multiple incidents.
Sources say just after 7 p.m., someone went up to an off-duty officer from the Lyons Village Police Department and started shooting. The sergeant fired back.
During the shootout, the gunman and a woman were shot, but it is not clear whose bullet hit the woman.
During the chaos, a 46-year-old woman told police she was in the park when someone drove up to her, pulled out a gun, and fired shots.
She was hit in the thigh and is expected to survive.
This all happened in a crowded park during the Labor Day weekend. People still had their grills out as police closed off the streets with crime scene tape yards away.
Troy Gaston, an organizer for Black Lives Matter, told CBS News Chicago that he was on his way to a picnic when he heard about the shooting. He described what he didn't see when he arrived.
"I didn't see celebration. I didn't see excitement. I didn't see people hugging and loving on each other. I saw people shouting all over the place, running, frightened," he said.
Police were doing their investigation in the middle of a very tense situation with emotions still running high hours after the incident.
As Gaston finished his interview with CBS News Chicago, someone threw a chair at him. He then launched it back.
Gaston had just spoken about his concerns for the neighborhood. A 16-year-old boy was shot multiple times in the same park Friday night. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition.
No arrests have been made in either incident.