One Suspect In Custody, One Dead After Chicago Police Captain Shot
UPDATED: 10/08/14 - 2:03 p.m.
(CBS) -- A Chicago police captain was recovering at the hospital on Wednesday, after he was wounded in a shootout that led to a six-hour standoff in Englewood, and ended with the arrest of a man wanted in a shooting spree in Indiana, and a second suspect shot and killed.
It all started about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at an apartment building near 72nd and Lowe. Chicago police officers and federal agents were serving an arrest warrant for 42-year-old Daniel Brown, a suspect in a string of shootings in Indiana, who allegedly had traveled to his sister's apartment in Englewood.
As authorities approached the building, someone inside opened fire on police, and Chicago Police Capt. Edward Kulbida was wounded. He suffered a graze wound to the head, and another shot struck him in the shoulder, but the bullet apparently was absorbed by his protective vest.
Police returned fire while some officers dragged Kulbida inside to get him out of the line of fire. However, in doing so, Kulbida and the officers became pinned inside the building's vestibule until the captain could be taken out the back. Kulbida, 58, was transported to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County. Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Kulbida was in good condition, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he was joking so much, he should try open mic night at The Second City.
After Kulbida was shot, officers swarmed the building and tried to convince the shooter or shooters to surrender, before ultimately storming the apartment around 11:30 p.m. A federal law enforcement source confirmed Brown was taken into custody. Another man, whose name has not yet been released, was found dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
Kulbida is a 29-year veteran of the Chicago Police, and second in command in the Englewood District on the South Side. He has lost some hearing, but was more concerned about his family than his own injuries as he recuperated in a recovery room at Stroger Hospital.
"He's comforting his family, and then all the officers are around," Police Department chaplain Donna Marquez said.
Marquez's brother, Donald, was killed in the line of duty 12 years ago. Kulbida said he knew her late brother.
"I held his hand. I kept holding it, and then he said 'Yeah, I worked with him in 10 and 11 [the 10th and 11th Districts]' and he started naming the veterans from the past, and then that was it. I just was so grateful that he was alive, and I said, 'Officer, God protected you, and the angels were watching over you."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel also visited Stroger Hospital to lend his support to Kulbida and his family.
Kulbida was part of a fugitive task force, including Chicago police officers and U.S. marshals, who were serving an arrest warrant for 42-year-old Daniel Brown, a suspect in a string of shootings in Indiana, who allegedly had traveled to his sister's apartment in Englewood.
WISH-TV in Indianapolis reports Brown allegedly shot a woman behind a gas station, then carjacked a man in Indianapolis on Saturday. Police said Brown also shot a man and woman at a motel the same night. He then allegedly stole a semi-truck tractor on Sunday, and drove to his sister's apartment in Englewood.
When police and federal agents arrived Brown's sister's the apartment Tuesday evening to arrest him, someone inside the apartment fired at police officers, who fired back. Kulbida was wounded in the shootout.
Neighbor Tiffany Fleming said she heard more than a dozen gunshots shortly after police arrived to arrest Brown.
McCarthy said the layout of the apartment is complicated, and it took a while to get all of the civilians out of the building.
Fleming ended up trapped in her home two floors above, amid a six-hour standoff between Brown, a second unnamed suspect, and police officers outside.
"I was scared. I mean scared for my life. I could literally see life flash in front of me, because bullets have no name, and they can go into any wall. They can go through any windows, and no telling who did it," Fleming said.
Another neighbor, who didn't want to be identified, said the first shots came from inside the apartment where Brown, his sister, and his sister's boyfriend were holed up.
"When they got to the door, I heard 'Police!' and you hear boom, boom, boom, boom, boom – about five times – and one of them said 'These m***** f*****s are shooting at us. And then we fired back at them, I guess," he said.
That neighbor said, after Kulbida was shot, he heard at least 17 more gunshots.
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Police have not yet said who they believe shot the man who was found dead inside the apartment, but earlier had described him as a suspect in the standoff.
