LOGAN SQUARE — Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s police detail fired shots at armed robbers who attacked a grandfather Tuesday morning in Logan Square, the victim, witnesses and police said.
An officer was injured, police said.
About 7 a.m., Luis Antonio Zayas, 77, was outside in the 1800 block of North Monticello Avenue, waiting to take his 7-year-old grandson to school, when two men opened his car and put guns on the side of his head, Zayas said. They told the man to give up his belongings, Zayas said.
Zayas gave the men his wallet when they pulled him out of his car, ripping his pants, he said.
Amid the chaos, Zayas yelled for help from police, and several officers came running out of a city-owned police building across the street, Zayas and witnesses said. Officers shot at the armed robbers as they drove off, Zayas and witnesses said.
Police spokesman Tom Ahern and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the agency that investigates police shootings, confirmed the shooting involved police. Ahern said the officers are part of Lightfoot’s security detail.
The officers involved were from the Detached Services Unit, according to a police news release. They saw a robbery in progress and there was an “exchange of gunfire,” police said.
The robbers got away, and no guns have been found, police said. An officer had minor injuries and was treated at an area hospital.
Officers take breaks in between shifts at the city-owned police building across from Zayas’ family’s home.
The police shooting brought a couple dozen officers, detectives and investigators to the area. Evidence markers were put down next to the city-owned police building.
Zayas and his family are reeling from the robbery, he said. Zayas picks up his grandson every morning for school to help out his daughter, he said.
Zayas’ young granddaughter, who was also home during the attack, is “shaken up,” said her father, Victor Sanchez.
“I was lucky. If I tried fighting, maybe they would’ve killed me,” Zayas said. “You never know what will happen when you have one gun and another gun on the sides of your head. That’s really something. … I’m glad I’m still here.”