Chicago police searching for gunmen in shooting of officer in West Englewood

CHICAGO - The exhaustive search continues for the suspects who opened fire on two uniformed Chicago police officers in West Englewood on Wednesday.

One of those officers was struck by gunfire. She remains in the hospital in serious but stable condition, police said on Thursday.

Police are looking for at least two suspects in connection to the shooting.

"I said to the superintendent, spare no expense, get our federal partners involved, we need to make sure the persons responsible for this are brought to justice," said Mayor Lori Lightfoot. "The thing that is most horrifying to me is that uniformed officers in a marked squad were purposefully targeted and attacked."

Just before 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, two 7th District police officers tried to stop a car near 64th and Paulina.

The suspect's car sped up, and then slowed down — ending up parallel to the squad car, police said.

Officials say that’s when the suspects ambushed the officers and opened fire.

The female officer driving the police squad was struck.

"Thank goodness this young officer did not lose her life, her partner acted quickly," said Lightfoot.

Her partner took the wheel, and rushed her to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

"Physically she’s going to be ok it looks like," said Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara. "Extremely lucky, got a fragment to the head and it traveled down into her shoulder."

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Catanzara, who visited the injured officer in the hospital on Wednesday, said she is awake and talking – even taking an encouraging video call from Carlos Yanez Jr., who was Ella French's partner.

French was shot and killed in the line of duty last August – about one mile from Wednesday’s attack. In that case, Yanez Jr. and French were also performing a traffic stop.

Yanez Jr. was badly wounded.

"It was kind of a litany of emotions, from anger to just total pride that here is a guy who was fighting for his life eight months ago, nine months ago, and here his first thought was, ‘what can I do for somebody else,’" said Catanzara.

On Wednesday, police said the suspects fled on foot in different directions after crashing their car near 64th and Bishop streets. A SWAT team cleared and secured a nearby building, but no one was taken into custody. 

Police said they recovered a gun, car keys, and the suspect's vehicle near the scene. Still, the suspects remain at large.

"From what I understand, they do know who they are looking for, there is a warrant out for his arrest," said Catanzara.

If you have any information that could assist police in this investigation, tips can be reported anonymously.