By Canadian Press

Chicago officer shot, suspect killed in exchange of gunfire

Jul 21, 2016 | 7:05 PM

CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer was released from the hospital after being shot in the leg by a man who was killed when officers returned fire, police said.

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson told reporters the officer and his partner were on bike patrol on the near South Side around 8:15 p.m. Thursday when a person told them about a man acting erratically. The Cook County medical examiner identified the man as Derek Love, 50.

The officers approached Love, who was talking on a cellphone, and asked him to hang up so they could speak with him. Love pulled a gun out of a backpack and began firing, striking one officer in the thigh, Johnson said.

Both officers returned fire, killing the suspect, he said.

“This is just another example of too many guns, too many people willing to use them,” Johnson said. “But it also illustrates how Chicago police officers put their lives on the line every day to keep the city of Chicago safe.”

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The wounded officer had a tourniquet and he and his partner used it to treat the wound, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

He was taken to a hospital with injuries that Johnson said were not considered life-threatening. Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited him there, Johnson said.

The wounded officer is 44 years old and a 16-year veteran of the department, according to a police statement. The officer’s name was not released.

The shooting happened in an affluent area blocks from Soldier Field. The incident is under investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority. The officers involved will be placed on routine administrative leave.

Chicago police have been working in pairs for safety since the fatal shooting earlier this month of five Dallas officers during a protest over the fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Police said Sunday that policy would continue after three law enforcement officers were gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The Associated Press