CHICAGO (AP) — A 15-year-old Chicago high school student who was wounded during a gun fight between a bank robbery suspect and investigators was likely shot by a suburban police officer, Chicago police said Wednesday.
Two men robbed a bank in Des Plaines late Tuesday afternoon. A Des Plaines officer pursued one of the suspects to Chicago and into a music store where the Lane Tech High School sophomore was working as a student-intern, First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio said.
Gunfire was exchanged.
The teen was shot in the arm and stomach. The 46-year-old Chicago police officer was shot in the head.
The suspect was wounded and later died from his injuries.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the bank robber as 32-year-old Christopher Terrell Willis of Chicago.
The boy was being treated at Lurie Children’s Hospital on Wednesday. Riccio said his condition was improving.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that the bullet that struck the officer, whose name has not been released, penetrated and exited his skull. Dr. Marius Katilius of Illinois Masonic Medical Center said the officer was in serious but stable condition.
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that officer has received more than 100 departmental awards “for his exemplary police work.”
Officers managed to arrest the other bank robbery suspect following a brief chase on foot.