Police shot a 17-year-old male in the shoulder shortly after 8 p.m. on Jan. 21, after seeing the man fire shots at a moving vehicle, after a foot chase and after the man refused to comply with their commands, said Commander James A. Pickett of the Evanston Police Department in a prepared statement.
The young man was from Des Plaines, Commander Tom Guenther, public information officer of the Evanston Police Department, told the RoundTable.
Police officers were on routine patrol traveling northbound on Dodge Avenue just north of Church Street when they observed a person in front of 1715 Dodge firing several shots from a handgun in the direction of a vehicle, said Cmdr. Pickett. Pedestrians were also in the area, said Cmdr. Guenther.
The young man began to run and the officers drove into an alley, chasing the subject in a marked police car, said Commander Jay Parrott, public information officer. The police car slid on the ice and struck the stairway of a building. The police officers, in uniform, then chased the young man on foot and commanded him to stop, said Cmdr. Parrott. The officers reported that the young man turned toward them after he fell to the ground and raised his arm; after being told to stop, one officer fired two shots at the young man, said Cmdr. Parrott. One shot struck the young man in the shoulder. He was transported to Evanston Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
A .380 semi-automatic handgun was recovered from the scene where the young man was shot, and expended shell casings were recovered from the scene where the young man was observed firing shots in the direction of a vehicle, said Cmdr. Parrott.
Police Chief Richard Eddington said at a neighborhood meeting on Jan. 25 that the incident involved a dispute between two young men over a young woman. The young man fired shots at a car that held four teens and a five-year-old, said the Chief.
On Jan. 25 charges against the young man were approved by the States Attorneys Office for two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and defacing identification marks on a firearm, said Cmdr. Parrott. Bond was set at $750,000. The young man was remanded into custody.
In accordance with Evanston Police Department protocol, the Integrity Unit of the Illinois State Police is investigating the officer-involved shooting, and the officers involved have been placed on administrative status pending the investigation.