An undercover Chicago police officer and two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) were shot on Chicago’s far south side Wednesday morning in a shock attack that occurred as the three, who riding in the same car, were attempting to pull onto a highway.
“One officer from the Chicago Police Department and two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents were shot around 5:50 a.m. near the intersection of 119th Street and the ramp onto Interstate 57, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said at a press conference,” according to Fox News. “The three officers were riding in the same unmarked, undercover vehicle attempting to enter the freeway when they were fired upon from the street, Brown said.”
The three officers were wounded, but none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, according to the Chicago police department. The two ATF officers were hit in the hand and torso, respectively, and the Chicago police officer “was grazed in the back of the head by a bullet.”
As the Daily Wire noted Tuesday, Chicago is coming off a record-breaking weekend of violence, with more than 100 people shot and 18 people killed in gun violence across the city. Police officers and children were among the weekend’s wounded; today’s victims are the third, fourth, and fifth law enforcement officials to be shot in the city of Chicago in less than a week.
Today’s shooting also marks a grim milestone for the city: the CPD officer shot Thursday is the 36th officer to be wounded or killed in the line of duty in 2021.
Wednesday’s incident happened just outside of the Chicago Police Department’s 22nd Chicago Police District headquarters, which serves the city’s Morgan Park neighborhood.
Brown told a press conference on Wednesday that the officers who were shot were performing a “dangerous” duty at a particularly difficult time to be a cop.
“Our officers are performing their jobs at the highest levels. They’re risking everything to protect the people of Chicago,” he said. “And this includes our collaboration with ATF. ATF officers are also giving everything to protect the people of Chicago. No one would do what these officers do. This is a very challenging time to be in law enforcement, but they are rising to the challenge.”
“The work that they do is extremely dangerous,” he said.
One Chicago alderman told the city’s ABC News affiliate that the city is “under siege” from street gangs and that both city and federal officials must do more to stop the violence.
“Another example of just where we’re at as a city,” 19th ward alderman Matt O’Shea told the network. “Our communities are under siege. Our police officers are under siege; they’re outmanned and they’re outgunned. We have 100,000 gang members in the city of Chicago right now; they’re all armed. They’re emboldened. They have absolutely no fear, no respect for life, no respect for the communities that they come from.”
The White House has, so far, focused on addressing what the Biden administration considers to be lenient federal gun laws. President Joe Biden is expected to meet briefly with Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot at the city’s O’Hare airport Wednesday before making a campaign-style stop in a Chicago suburb located more than an hour drive from the city center, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.