3 people are dead and 2 others injured in a shooting after a drag racing incident took over a Chicago intersection Sunday afternoon.
The shooting took place near Wabash and Grand avenues in Rogers Park. Police told reporters more than a dozen people were involved and that the incident began when two men were racing on foot near the intersection and then crossed lanes of traffic to reach Grand.
A police officer who was nearby confronted one of the men and told him to return to the sidewalk in front of the intersection and stop the vehicle, authorities said. That man then pulled out a handgun and opened fire and shot two others trying to get him off, police said.
The officers returned fire. One of the men who was shot was struck in the back. He is expected to survive his wounds. The two others were treated at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and are expected to survive.
The shooting is being investigated as a case of self-defense, police said.
“The officers’ actions saved lives,” Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said during a news conference.
The police officer who confronted the man who opened fire is undergoing a series of tests that will determine whether he has been discharged from the force, Guglielmi said.
No officers were injured.
Police said the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Terrence Bell, was in critical condition when he was taken into custody late Sunday morning. Two other men who were shot, identified as 22-year-old Anthony Walker and 32-year-old James Lee Ray Jr., were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. They are expected to survive.
Police said Bell was fired from the police force in August and arrested this month on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was working at the time of the shooting, authorities said.
Police are still processing the scene, but investigators believe the incident could have been avoided had the officers not been in the street confronting Bell.
“While officers were engaged in an ‘ongoing encounter,’ they were also performing their duties just blocks away, directing traffic