Retired Chicago police officer shot while attempting to stop a robbery

A retired Chicago police officer is in serious condition after he was shot while attempting to stop a robbery in the city's South Side Thursday morning.

The shooting happened around 7:30 a.m., outside a currency exchange business on 71st Street and Wentworth Avenue, WGN-TV reported.

Police said that a 58-year-old female employee was opening the currency exchange when a car approached her. Two men got out of the vehicle and attempted to rob the woman.

The currency exchange security guard, a 60-year-old retired police officer, intervened and tried to assist the woman. Police said there was an exchange of gunfire and the retired officer was shot six times.

The man was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he's listed in serious condition, according to WGN. The woman was unharmed. It is unknown whether any of the suspects were injured.

The Chicago Police Department released surveillance video of the shooting on Friday. The video shows a gray Dodge Durango pulling up to the currency exchange and two men exiting the vehicle as the female employee was opening the business. One of the men approaches the woman, while the other suspect approaches a parked car, which WGN reported could be the retired officer's vehicle.

CPD spokesman Tom Ahern said it was not clear who fired the first shot, according to the Chicago Tribune. After the shooting, the suspects fled in the vehicle, Ahern said.

An investigation to into the shooting is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

Police said the retired officer's actions were "heroic."

“Even as a retired officer, he did his best, he did his job and he saved a person’s life,” CPD Deputy Chief Fred Melean told reporters at a news conference.

"There's three offenders in total," Melean said. "We don't know exactly at this time how many shot. But you're talking — when somebody's attempted to rob [you] with a handgun, shooting multiple times, definitely that person's life was saved."

The shooting comes two weeks after another retired Chicago police officer was injured in an exchange of gunfire with carjackers outside his Lawndale home. A 17-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder after the retired officer was shot four times.

Sixty-six people were killed in Chicago last month, bringing the total number of homicides in the city up to 448 in 2022, according to police department data. Shootings are down compared to the same time last year, but the number of homicides is still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

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