Chicago police officer -- mom to young daughter -- gunned down while on duty
A 36-year-old police officer who was a mother to a young daughter and four-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department has been shot and killed while on duty in Chicago, police said.
The incident occurred at approximately 9:50 p.m. on Thursday night when Chicago Police Department officers assigned to the 6th (Gresham) District Tactical Team were on patrol when they attempted to conduct an investigatory stop on a male suspect in the 8200 block of S. Drexel Avenue, according to a statement from the Chicago Police Department.
MORE: US Border Patrol tactical unit deployed to help manhunt for escaped Arkansas inmate
Officers approached the suspect, but the individual immediately fled on foot into a nearby building, police said.
Law enforcement subsequently pursued the suspect into the building but were confronted by another individual who was armed inside of the residence which the suspect fled to, authorities continued.
'The armed offender fled the residence and was taken into custody,' police said. 'An officer sustained a gunshot wound and was taken to an area hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.'
MORE: US Marshals arrest Dominican man wanted in quadruple homicide, including victims aged 2 and 4
The police officer who died has not yet been named but Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said said she was a 36-year-old female officer who had been with the department for four years at the 6th District and was a mother to a young daughter.
"She lost her life tragically doing the job that she loved and that was one of the things that her mother said, she loved her job and the way that she worked, it was evident that she did love her job and she wanted to make Chicago a better place,' Snelling said during a press conference. 'She wanted to make it safer."
MORE: Climber falls over 3,000 feet to his death off tallest mountain in North America
MORE: 3 plane crash survivors plucked from Atlantic Ocean at night after plane goes down off Florida coast
Mayor Brandon Johnson said the entire city is mourning the loss of this officer.
"This young woman served honorably and courageously. I am calling on the entire city of Chicago to keep this officer's family in your prayers along with our entire police department," Mayor Johnson said. "Her young, energetic bold approach toward keeping us safe is the memory that we will honor."
An additional officer sustained an injury to the wrist and was taken to the hospital in fair condition, police said, but no other injuries were reported.
MORE: 61-year-old man survives being pinned down by 700-pound boulder for 3 hours in Alaska creek
Three firearms were located on the scene and multiple people were taken into custody, police said.
Overall, between Jan. 1 and April 30, 16 police officers in the United States have been feloniously killed in the line of duty and firearms were used in 75% of those incidents, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The leading circumstances surrounding officers' deaths included activities related to responses to unlawful or suspicious activities, pursuits and traffic stops, according to the Justice Department.
MORE: Tourists at beach house find human remains dating back 200 years
Accidental law enforcement deaths, however, have decreased 68.2% when comparing the first four months of 2024 (22 deaths) with those of 2025 (7 deaths), with the leading causes of accidental deaths in 2025 being motor vehicle crashes and officers struck by vehicle.
The investigation into the death of the 36-year-old officer is currently ongoing.
Chicago police officer -- mom to young daughter -- gunned down while on duty originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
US agents arrest two migrants at NY courthouse
US agents pounced on two immigrants in the hallway of a New York courthouse Friday, wrestling them to the ground in a forceful display of President Donald Trump's crackdown on people without papers. The two men had just attended a scheduled hearing when plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, some wearing black face masks, grabbed them. The officers yelled for the men not to move or put up resistance and forced them to lay face-down on the ground as they tied their hands behind their backs and arrested them. The immigrants were then whisked away into an elevator on the 12th floor of the Jacob K Javits Federal Building in Manhattan. The routine appointment they hoped would be a step toward life in America ended in shock and detention. AFP was on hand to witness these events because there was a similar arrest at the same courthouse earlier in the week and the agency suspected more might be imminent. It was not immediately clear exactly why these two men were arrested nor the fate that awaits them. Trump was elected to a second term largely on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants and Americans largely support the idea. But polls show they also find tactics like surprise courthouse arrests by agents with black masks to be harsh. In recent weeks ICE agents have intensified operations like this in and around American immigration courts. After Trump swept back into power in January, the Department of Homeland Security revoked regulations that limited agents' access to protected areas like the courts. One of the men arrested was a 34-year-old Dominican named Joaquin Rosario who arrived in the United States a year ago, registered with authorities as he came in, and had his first immigration hearing Friday, said a relative of his, Julian Rosario, who declined to say how they were related. "He was at ease. He did not think anything was going to happen," said the relative, who was still visibly upset by what he had witnessed as agents threw the other man to the ground. Rosario was so unworried he did not even bother to have a lawyer with him, the relative said. The other detainee looked to be Asian. He arrived on his own and was accompanied by one of many immigration advocacy group volunteers who walk with such immigrants to and from the courtroom. The idea is to make them feel safe. This time the volunteers screamed out as the agents arrested the two men but this did nothing to halt the raid. Before this arrest other immigrants with appointments, including entire families, came and went with no problem. A pair of Venezuelans who refused to give their names were jubilant because their next appointment is not until 2027 -- that's how backlogged the US immigration court system is. - 'Sound the alarm' - Human rights groups are outraged by these operations, arguing that they sap trust in the courts and make immigrants wary of showing up for appointments as they try to gain US residency. "They're illegal abductions," said Karen Ortiz, herself a court employee who was demonstrating Friday against these sudden arrests of migrants. "We need to sound the alarm and show the public how serious this is and one way we can do that is actually physically putting ourselves between a masked ICE agent and someone they're trying to detain and send away," Ortiz told AFP. Since returning to power Trump has dramatically tested the limits of executive power as he cracked down on foreigners without papers, arguing that the United States is being invaded by criminals and other undesirables. af/dg/dw/sla
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Chicago police officer fatally shot in Chatham neighborhood was struck in back, according to medical examiner
Earlier in what would be her final shift, Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera took two guns off the street, authorities said, only to come face-to-face with a rifle later that night. Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran with a young daughter who lived in the Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side, was killed after the Gresham (6th) District tactical team she was part of tried to conduct an investigatory stop on a person believed to have a weapon about 9:50 p.m. Thursday in the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue. The first Chicago police officer to be killed in the line of duty this year, Rivera was mourned by city officials and her fellow officers, who praised her work ethic and asked Chicagoans to keep her family in their prayers. 'Our officer was young, vibrant and a hard worker,' police Superintendent Larry Snelling said, speaking from the University of Chicago Medical Center early Friday. 'She was a working police officer trying to keep the streets safe.' Flanked by department brass, Mayor Brandon Johnson and other city and state officials, Snelling gave some details about the shooting, but did not offer a full picture of exactly how the shooting unfolded. In response to a reporter's question about the gunfire, Snelling said investigators were waiting on a warrant to search the apartment where the shooting happened. 'Here's the deal: We won't know that until the search warrant is served and we are able to go through that apartment and collect more evidence. The evidence that we collect usually … gives a story of what occurred in there,' Snelling said. 'So until we have all of that information we can't rely on just one source at this time.' An autopsy found that Rivera was shot in the back. A CPD spokesperson declined to comment on the autopsy results — or further elaborate on the circumstances of the shooting and whether it could even have been friendly fire — saying the investigation is ongoing, and referring to Snelling's comments from Thursday night. It was not clear Friday afternoon whether the suspects fired a weapon. This is what Snelling did relay about the shooting, though, in a news conference that took place hours after the event. The officers first tried to stop someone thought to be armed when the individual ran into an apartment, and the officers followed, he said. There, Snelling said, the team encountered a second person armed with a rifle. One of the officers fired a gun 'at some point' during the confrontation, he said, and another officer was shot, later succumbing to her injuries at University of Chicago Medical Center. 'When the officers followed into that location they were then confronted by a second person who was in that apartment who was armed with a rifle pointed at the officers,' Snelling said. 'At some point the officer discharged the weapon. Our officer was struck. She was then transported by assisting units to the hospital here where she later succumbed to her wounds.' The two people in the apartment ran away and were arrested shortly afterward, Snelling said, though he said officials had 'several' people in custody in connection with the shooting. The department did not specify exactly how many people were in custody as of Friday afternoon. A third officer hurt his wrist and was listed in fair condition, according to a police statement. Investigators recovered three weapons at the scene and were still reviewing body-worn camera footage, Snelling said, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability was investigating the shooting. After the shooting, police officers took their wounded colleague to the hospital in a squad car, which crashed and caught fire on the way there because of what Snelling described as a malfunction with the vehicle. Another squad car finished the trip, he said, and the officers in the first car were 'doing fine.' 'The way that she worked, it was evident that she did love her job,' Snelling said. 'She wanted to make Chicago a better place.' Rivera's mother, reached by phone, declined to comment. In a statement posted to social media, the mayor asked Chicagoans to keep Rivera's family in their prayers, especially her young daughter who will 'who will miss her mom for the rest of her life.' Rivera had an 'unmatched work ethic,' Johnson said. 'Officer Rivera was a hero who served on the force for four years. She had a long career in front of her. A bright future was stolen from her family and from her loved ones,' he said in the statement. The last Chicago officer to suffer fatal injuries on the job was Enrique Martinez, 26. Martinez, who was also assigned to the same Gresham District as Rivera, was fatally shot in November in the 8200 block of South Ingleside Avenue— just one street east of where Rivera was killed Thursday. Outside the hospital early Friday, squad cars lined Cottage Grove Avenue for blocks in every direction. A peer support officer walked people, some of them in tears, in and out of the ambulance bay as others in uniform exchanged hugs in the street. In Chatham, the crime scene spanned multiple blocks as law enforcement agencies fanned out in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Cook County sheriff's deputies walked up and down Maryland Avenue near East 83rd Street with rifles and canine units while tactical teams searched nearby alleys with flashlights. As squad cars lined the streets for several blocks in every direction, a police helicopter circled the area, beaming a searchlight. Residents walked their dogs and filmed the scene on their phones, protesting when officers asked them to back up to Cottage Grove so they could expand the crime scene. Officers appeared to zero in on an alley on the west side of Ingleside. A resident leaned out the window of a courtyard building across the street and asked if they needed to get in. Detectives begin combing the front yard with flashlights. Just before noon Friday, a two-man crew arrived at the Gresham District station to affix purple and black bunting on the building's facade, in keeping with CPD tradition after an officer is killed on the job. This is a developing story.
CBS News
4 hours ago
- CBS News
Chicago police investigating how Officer Krystal Rivera was shot, killed in Chatham
Chicago police are investigating how a police officer was shot and killed while conducting an investigatory stop in Chatham Thursday night. Officer Krystal Rivera was among officers on a tactical team who were on patrol in the South Side neighborhood when they attempted to conduct an investigatory stop in the 8220 block of South Drexel Avenue just before 10 p.m. Police said as the officers approached, the suspect ran into a nearby apartment and the officers gave chase. Sources said Rivera and her partner followed the suspect to the second floor of the apartment building, into a home. Chicago Police Department Supt. Larry Snelling said that when the officers got into that apartment, they were confronted with a second person who pointed a rifle at them. "At some point an officer discharged a weapon," Snelling said. Rivera was struck by gunfire and rushed to the hospital by her fellow officers but, on the way, their vehicle caught fire due to a mechanical issue. Rivera had to be put in another vehicle, which took her to University of Chicago Medical Center, where she died. "There was some type of malfunction in that vehicle that caught fire, but assisting officers came in and she was transferred to another vehicle and driven to the hospital," Snelling said. At an early morning news conference, reporters asked Snelling for more information about what happened when officers entered the apartment and for clarification about whether there was an exchange of gunfire. "So, here's the deal. We won't know that until the search warrant is served and we're able to go through that apartment and collect more evidence. The evidence that we collect usually tells us and it gives us a story of what occurred in there," Snelling responded. "So, until we have all of that information, we can't rely on just one source at this time. So, it's still in its preliminary stages, so until we have that information, we can't really comment on that right now." Snelling said three weapons were recovered at the scene but in their news release, there is no mention of an offender firing a weapon. Police have not said any other weapon was fired other than that of an officer. The 36-year-old was a four-year veteran of the department and a mother. Supt. Larry Snelling described her as vibrant and fearless, saying she showed up to work every day ready to be bold and work hard, and was dedicating to protecting others. Several people were taken into custody after the shooting, including one person believed to have been the one with the rifle inside the apartment. No charges have yet been announced. The Chicago Office of Police Accountability is investigating the shooting. This is the second police officer from the 6th District killed recently in Chatham. In November 2024, Officer Enrique Martinez was shot and killed during a traffic stop near 80th and Ingleside. Body cam, bullet will be at center of investigation, experts say A bullet and body camera footage will likely be at the center of the investigation into how Officer Rivera died, experts say. CBS News Chicago Legal Analyst Irv Miller said the bullet that struck Rivera will reveal what happened. "They'll be able to determine, by checking out the bullet, that when the officer was shot, what gun that come from," he said. "And that will determine whether or not it was the person with the rifle or perhaps it was one of the officers." Former Chicago Police Board president Ghian Foreman said that COPA will also review all of the available evidence for their investigation, including conducting interviews and obtaining body camera video if possible to determine how officers conducted the investigatory stop. "Was the body cam on? Did they announce their arrival?" Foreman said. The body camera video could be key in the investigation, as it could show where the suspect was and what he was doing at the time Rivera and her partner entered the apartment. "For example, did he have a gun in his hand? Was it raised?" said Foreman.
