Chicago City Wire

An off-duty police officer was shot in the face near North Side in Chicago.

“Sadly another CPD Officer was shot in the face while off-duty,” Democratic Chicago Mayor Candidate Paul Vallas wrote on Twitter.

The Chicago Fire Department confirmed the 27-year-old officer had no life-threatening injuries.

The Chicago police officer getting shot in the face happened on Tuesday afternoon during an apparent road rage incident on the Northwest Side, ABC News reported. CPD Supt. David Brown said during a press conference that the 27-year-old woman had apparently been rear-ended and was shot by a black SUV driver during a confrontation. Police were able to locate the SUV later but it was unoccupied, and there is no suspect in custody for the shooting. The incident occurred in the 3600 block of North Elston Avenue shortly after 3 p.m. The officer sustained non-life threatening injuries and has since been released from Illinois Masonic Hospital.

Chris Fitzner, a nearby resident, said, “It’s a scary thing. We have talked about going for walks with our grandson because it’s been so nice out, and people are attacked regularly. You hear it on the news all the time. So we don’t. We’re old. We don’t want to take that chance. So we don’t.”

Block Club Chicago reported police tried to stop the SUV driver, however they got away as the police shot at the vehicle.

CPD spokesperson Tom Ahern said the woman had been relieved of her police duties days before the shooting due to a positive drug test, CBS reported.

Block Club Chicago added authorities found the SUV abandoned on the 5800 block of North Drake Avenue near Northeastern Illinois University.

The incident is not the first time this year an off-duty CPD officer has been shot. In July, Chicago Police Officer Dan Golden, age 32, participated in a charity softball fundraiser for families dealing with cancer, and afterward, he went to Sean’s Rhino Bar in Beverly on Chicago's South Side, WGN reported.

While at the bar, an altercation broke out. Golden identified himself as a police officer and was attempting to de-escalate the fight when someone shot him in the back, severing his spinal cord, and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Demitrius Harrell, 28, Bryant Hayes, 22, and Justen Krismantis, 22, are all facing charges related to the shooting, including felony unlawful use of a weapon and felony aggravated battery. Harrell had previously been charged with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm after he obtained a semiautomatic pistol from a member of the gang Black Disciples in 2017.

In 2018, Harrell was charged with attempted bank robbery by intimidation after threatening to shoot a bank manager in Calumet City if the manager didn't give him $40,000.

“I did talk to the officer and she is talking,” Browns said in Block Club Chicago. “She apparently did not lose consciousness. So thank goodness that she’s going to be able to recover from these injuries.”

Wirepoints reported that 80 Chicago Police Officers were shot or shot at in 2020, and 76 CPD officers were shot or shot at in 2021. From 2014 to 2019, the average number of police officers who were shot at was 20 per year.