Retired Cook County Sheriff's officer shoots, critically wounds one of three men robbing him in Chicago Lawn
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A retired Cook County Sheriff's officer shot and wounded one of three men who were robbing him at gunpoint in Chicago Lawn Thursday afternoon.
Shortly after 5 p.m., the 60-year-old victim was walking to his vehicle in the 2800 block of West 66th Street when three men came up and one of them stuck a gun in his back, police said. The other two robbers took his property.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, the retired officer was OK late Thursday, with all signs pointing to his having defended himself after the three robbers tried to take everything he had at gunpoint.
Terry caught up with a woman who watched the entire robbery unfold after getting off the bus.
"Something out the Wild, Wild West," the woman said. "I just never thought I'd see anything like that."
The sight of police cars at 66th and Mozart streets left neighbors stepping outside, wondering what was going on. But the woman who spoke to us, who was heading home from work, walked right down the street in the middle of an armed robbery.
"We got off the bus – that's when we were walking," she said. "We noticed these gentlemen were robbing this man, because he was taking his wallet and stuff out his pocket."
Corroborating what police reported, the woman said there was a total of three robbers, and one of them held a gun to the man's back. But little did the robbers know they were pointing a gun at a retired Cook County Sheriff's officer.
"The man turned to shoot at him, and the sheriff got off a couple of rounds at him, and the next thing we know, the young man was laying on the ground," the woman said.
The witness said once the suspect was shot, the victim quickly identified himself.
"He notified to us that: 'I'm a retired sheriff. Just don't touch anything. Leave everything alone until the police come. My wife is calling the police,'" the woman said. "So he did identify himself as a retired sheriff."
Chicago Police said the robber was shot in the head. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition.
While the shooting was frightening enough, the witness was in just as much shock to see how young the injured b oy on the ground was.
"From what we saw, he couldn't be no older than 16 - a child," she said.
Yet he was a child with a gun – using it to commit a crime. It leaves so many in the neighborhood to ask, when will it stop?
"It's sad," the woman said. "It's really sad."
We are told the retired officer was distraught after the shooting, but more upset once he saw how young the kid he shot in the head was. At last check, the boy remained in critical condition.
Police found the other two robbery suspects a few blocks away and arrested them.
The last officer left the scene just after 10 p.m.
