Firefighter Shot While Responding To A Call On Chicago's Northwest Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago police are searching for the person who shot a firefighter who was responding to a call in the Northwest Side's Albany Park neigborhood.
The firefighter was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the left leg.
Doctors say he is in fair condition and in pain, but with physical therapy he is expected to make a full recovery.
"Expecting a full recovery in six to eight weeks," said Dr. Juan Santiago-Gonzalez. "At this time the patient is in good spirits. We'll continue monitoring him and hopefully be able to send him home soon."
Firefighters responded to the car fire around 1 a.m. at Wilson and Kimball avenues when they heard gunshots and took cover, but one of the bullets struck the firefighter in the leg.
The wounded firefighter is 36 years old and has been with the Chicago Fire Department for six years.
A man who lives in the neighborhood said he was home when he heard the gunshots and saw the police activity.
"We are concerned any time we have a member who is hurt, but knowing that we have one of the best fire departments in the country, all things were addressed appropriately," said CFD Commissioner Richard C. Ford II.
He does not believe the firefighter was targeted.
Chicago police are still investigating, and no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting, but a police spokesman said three illegal guns were recovered from an apartment near the scene. Police are processing video and believe the firefighter was hit while offenders were firing at another target.
The cause of the car fire is still under investigation.
No one else was hurt.