A Chicago Police officer was struck in his safety vest during a shootout that happened on May 12 at around 2:30 p.m. on the 4600 block of West Maypole, according to multiple reports. Police said that the suspected shooter is a woman who was in critical condition on Friday.
Dr. Kristen Donaldson, who treated the officer at Loyola University Medical Center, told reporters that the bullet hit him in “the center of his mass and could have been fatal.”
“Thankfully he had a vest on and it saved his life,” said Donaldson, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report. “Today we have seen gun violence in Chicago hit home not only for me as an ER physician but as the wife of a Chicago Police officer.”
The shooting happened after the officer and his partner stopped a woman, 25, and a man, who the cops suspected were involved in a drug deal.
“They ran off, but the woman pulled a handgun and shot the officer in the chest, striking his vest, police said,” according to the Sun-Times report.
Police said that the woman’s gun was recovered. She was shot multiple times in the shoulder, leg and abdomen. The woman was rushed to Stroger Hospital. As of Friday, police were still searching for the man who escaped.