Off-duty Dolton police officer seriously wounded in Chatham shooting

CHICAGO (SUN TIMES/FOX 32) - A 55-year-old suburban police officer was shot early Monday in the South Side’s Chatham neighborhood.

Darryl Hope, a detective with south suburban Dolton Police Department, was returning home from his shift in the 7600 block of South Calumet Avenue about 12:10 a.m. when two armed people approached him in an apparent robbery, according to Dolton Police Chief Robert Collins Jr. and Chicago Police.

The two suspects took cover and ordered Hope to step down from his porch, Collins said in a press conference.

He dropped his bag and then shots were exchanged, according to Collins.

Hope was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with gunshot wounds in his abdomen and left arm, authorities said.

He was suffering from non-life threatening injuries, and was expected to require surgery, Collins said.

“He’s in good spirits,” Chief Collins said, “but he’s in a lot of pain.”

At the scene of the shooting, officers expanded the crime scene’s perimeter into the 7500 block of Calumet in an apparent search for the suspects.

A police helicopter could be seen circling above the block.