Chicago police officer fatally shot, another injured

A shooting incident has left an officer killed and another critically injured in Chicago, Illinois, amid a spike in gun violence across the US.

According to the police, the incident took place at around 09:00 p.m. local time on Saturday as the officers were conducting a traffic stop on the city’s South Side.

“The Chicago Police Department has lost one of our own in an incomprehensible act of violence. A 29-year-old female officer assigned to the Community Safety Team was shot and killed in the line of duty Saturday night. A second officer was also shot and is in critical condition,” Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown said in a statement.

The officers were taken to a hospital, where the female one was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Two suspects were taken into custody shortly after the shooting, according to police communications from the scene.

One of them, who was wounded, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. There was no information about his condition.

Meanwhile, a third suspect, a female, was being sought by police late Saturday, authorities said.

Chicago has continued to struggle this summer with gun violence. Three people were fatally shot and 17 others were injured in four separate incidents in a single night last month.

The incidents of mass shootings have seen an alarming surge in the US in recent years, reigniting the debate over gun control laws and misuse of lethal weapons.

At least 233 people were killed and 618 were injured by gun violence in more than 500 shootings across the US during the July 4 weekend.

In the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people in the US, accounting for about 54 lives lost per day, according to the Washington Post.