Latest news with #friendlyfire
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Chicago police mourn Krystal Rivera, killed in line of duty by accidental fire
The Brief Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera was fatally shot by friendly fire during a foot chase Thursday night, with officials confirming only her partner's weapon was discharged. The incident unfolded as officers pursued an armed suspect into a building, where Rivera was accidentally struck. Authorities are investigating the events leading up to the shooting, while the department mourns the four-year veteran and mother of a 10-year-old girl. CHICAGO - Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera was accidentally shot and killed by her partner during a confrontation with an armed suspect Thursday night on the South Side, officials said. "The first question is, was it an intentional fire shot or accidental discharge?" said former CPD Supt. Garry McCarthy. The backstory The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said Rivera was shot in the back. It happened Thursday around 10 p.m. at 82nd Street and Drexel Avenue. Police said Rivera and her partner stopped a man who eventually ran into a building. When officers chased him, police said they were confronted by a man with a gun. "Rivera was in the process of investigating someone in possession of a gun. At some point, a weapon was pointed in the direction of those officers", said CPD Supt. Larry Snelling. "How the officer got in between her partner and the person he was firing at we don't know, but that's certainly one of the risks of entering a room like that," Snelling said. Authorities are investigating the initial stop prior to the deadly shooting. Rivera worked for the department for four years. She was described as hard-working and a mentor to younger officers. She also leaves behind a 10-year-old daughter. Chicago police are asking the city to pray for Rivera's family as well as her partner. "That officer is in a very tough place, it's unimaginable what they're going through right now", Snelling said. The Source The information in this report came from the Chicago Police Department, an interview with former Chicago Police Chief Garry McCarthy and previous FOX 32 reporting.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Fellow officer ‘unintentionally' shot slain officer while confronting suspect, say Chicago police
CHICAGO — Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow officer during a confrontation with an armed suspect, according to police, who continued to hold at least two people in custody as of late Friday. The department announced Rivera had been struck by friendly fire about a day after she died. She and her Gresham District tactical team were trying to conduct an investigatory stop in the Chatham neighborhood, police have said, and encountered an armed suspect after chasing a person into an apartment building on the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue. An autopsy conducted Friday found that Rivera had died of a gunshot wound to the back. 'As released in yesterday's preliminary statement, an officer discharged his weapon during the encounter with an armed offender,' the statement read. 'Further investigation revealed the only weapon discharged during this incident was the weapon of the officer, whose gunfire unintentionally struck Officer Rivera.' Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the police force, leaves behind a young daughter. She lived in the Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Police said they were continuing to investigate the suspect the tactical team encountered in the apartment, who allegedly pointed a rifle at the officers. 'This offender remains in custody,' the police department said in a statement. 'Detectives also continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the investigative stop preceding the encounter.' At least two people remained in custody as of late Friday night, though Superintendent Larry Snelling said 'several' people were initially arrested following the shooting. Just after the time of the shooting Thursday, officers found and detained a 25-year-old man and 26-year-old woman in a gated yard near an apartment building on the 8200 block of South Maryland Avenue, according to police sources. The man was described in arrest paperwork as being armed with a rifle. According to police sources, authorities had issued several warrants for the man out of Cook, Stephenson and Winnebago counties. The woman had one active warrant out of Stephenson County, according to police sources, and both are listed in arrest records as residents of Freeport in northwestern Illinois. Rivera was the first city police officer to be killed in the line of duty this year. The last officer to suffer fatal injuries on the job was Enrique Martínez, 26. Martínez, who was also assigned to the same 6th 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. She was widely mourned by city officials and her fellow officers, who praised her work ethic and asked Chicagoans to keep her family in their prayers. Investigators recovered three weapons at the scene and were still reviewing body-worn camera footage, Snelling said after the shooting. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was investigating. 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, Snelling 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, Mayor Brandon Johnson asked Chicagoans to keep Rivera's family in their prayers, especially her young daughter '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. Family friend Alicia Headrick described Rivera as someone who was 'unapologetically herself and wanted everyone else to be able to tap into that as well.' Headrick, 28, a Grundy County sheriff's deputy, said she mostly stayed in touch with Rivera via social media. While they occasionally talked about working for two very different law enforcement agencies, Headrick mainly remembered Rivera cheering her on and likened her to an older sister. Rivera had been a single mother for some time and was ferociously independent, she said. '(Rivera) just always wanted to make a life and career for herself and for her daughter,' Headrick said. 'She had a very pure heart that just wanted to serve other people.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Chicago police determine slain officer was unintentionally shot by fellow cop
CHICAGO — Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera was mistakenly shot by a fellow cop during a confrontation with an armed suspect that took her life Thursday, police have announced. In a statement late Friday, the department said that an investigation had reached the conclusion that Rivera was struck by friendly fire. 'As released in yesterday's preliminary statement, an officer discharged his weapon during the encounter with an armed offender,' the statement read. 'Further investigation revealed the only weapon discharged during this incident was the weapon of the officer, whose gunfire unintentionally struck Officer Rivera.' Rivera was widely praised Friday. Earlier in what would be her final shift, 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 investigation into the aggravated assault of the police officers by the armed offender who pointed the rifle remains ongoing,' the police statement read. 'This offender remains in custody. Detectives also continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the investigative stop preceding the encounter. At this time, no further information is available while the investigation continues.' The statement concluded with a request for prayers for Rivera's family and her partner. An autopsy had found that Rivera was shot in the back. 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.' Snelling in a news conference that took place hours after the event said 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. Family friend Alicia Headrick described Rivera as someone who was 'unapologetically herself and wanted everyone else to be able to tap into that as well.' Headrick, 28 and a Grundy County sheriff's deputy, said she mostly stayed in touch with Rivera via social media. While they occasionally talked about working for two very different law enforcement agencies, Headrick mainly remembered Rivera cheering her on and likened her to an older sister. Rivera had been a single mother for some time and was ferociously independent, she said. '(Rivera) just always wanted to make a life and career for herself and for her daughter,' Headrick said. 'She had a very pure heart that just wanted to serve other people.' 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.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Fellow cop ‘unintentionally' shot slain officer while confronting suspect, according to police, who were holding at least two in custody
Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow cop during a confrontation with an armed suspect, according to police, who continued to hold at least two people in custody as of late Friday. The department announced Rivera had been struck by friendly fire about a day after she died. She and the Gresham (6th) district tactical team she had been a part of were trying to conduct an investigatory stop in the Chatham neighborhood, police have said, and encountered an armed suspect after chasing a person into an apartment building on the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue. An autopsy conducted Friday found that Rivera had died of a gunshot wound to the back. 'As released in yesterday's preliminary statement, an officer discharged his weapon during the encounter with an armed offender,' the statement read. 'Further investigation revealed the only weapon discharged during this incident was the weapon of the officer, whose gunfire unintentionally struck Officer Rivera.' Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the police force, leaves behind a young daughter. She lived in the Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Police said they were continuing to investigate the suspect the tactical team met in the apartment, who allegedly pointed a rifle at the officers. 'This offender remains in custody,' the police department said in a statement. 'Detectives also continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the investigative stop preceding the encounter.' At least two people remained in custody as of late Friday night, though Supt. Larry Snelling said 'several' people were initially arrested following the shooting. Just after the time of the shooting Thursday, officers found and detained a 25-year-old man and 26-year-old woman in a gated yard near an apartment building at 8215 S. Maryland Ave., according to police sources. The man was described in arrest paperwork as being armed with a rifle. According to police sources, authorities had issued multiple active warrants for the man out of Cook County and Stephenson County and Winnebago County, both in northwestern Illinois. The woman had one active warrant, according to police sources, and both are listed in arrest records as residents of Freeport in northwestern Illinois. Rivera was the first city police officer to be killed in the line of duty this year. The last cop 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. She was widely mourned by city officials and her fellow officers, who praised her work ethic and asked Chicagoans to keep her family in their prayers. Investigators recovered three weapons at the scene and were still reviewing body-worn camera footage, Snelling said after the shooting, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability was investigating. 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, Snelling 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. Family friend Alicia Headrick described Rivera as someone who was 'unapologetically herself and wanted everyone else to be able to tap into that as well.' Headrick, 28 and a Grundy County sheriff's deputy, said she mostly stayed in touch with Rivera via social media. While they occasionally talked about working for two very different law enforcement agencies, Headrick mainly remembered Rivera cheering her on and likened her to an older sister. Rivera had been a single mother for some time and was ferociously independent, she said. '(Rivera) just always wanted to make a life and career for herself and for her daughter,' Headrick said. 'She had a very pure heart that just wanted to serve other people.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Chicago police determine slain Officer Krystal Rivera was unintentionally shot by fellow cop
Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera was mistakenly shot by a fellow cop during a confrontation with an armed suspect that took her life Thursday, police have announced. In a statement late Friday, the department released a statement saying an investigation had reached the conclusion that Rivera was struck by friendly fire. 'As released in yesterday's preliminary statement, an officer discharged his weapon during the encounter with an armed offender,' the statement read. 'Further investigation revealed the only weapon discharged during this incident was the weapon of the officer, whose gunfire unintentionally struck Officer Rivera.' Rivera was widely praised Friday. Earlier in what would be her final shift, 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 investigation into the aggravated assault of the police officers by the armed offender who pointed the rifle remains ongoing,' the police statement read. 'This offender remains in custody. Detectives also continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the investigative stop preceding the encounter. At this time, no further information is available while the investigation continues.' The statement concluded with a request for prayers for Rivera's family and her partner. An autopsy had found that Rivera was shot in the back. 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.' Snelling in a news conference that took place hours after the event said 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. Family friend Alicia Headrick described Rivera as someone who was 'unapologetically herself and wanted everyone else to be able to tap into that as well.' Headrick, 28 and a Grundy County sheriff's deputy, said she mostly stayed in touch with Rivera via social media. While they occasionally talked about working for two very different law enforcement agencies, Headrick mainly remembered Rivera cheering her on and likened her to an older sister. Rivera had been a single mother for some time and was ferociously independent, she said. '(Rivera) just always wanted to make a life and career for herself and for her daughter,' Headrick said. 'She had a very pure heart that just wanted to serve other people.' 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.
