A Far South Side man has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a Chicago police officer Thursday night, police said.
William T. Wright, 20, who lives in the area of 130th Street and Ellis Avenue, is charged in the shooting and being held on a Michigan warrant in connection with a parole violation, police said.
Wright’s prior conviction in Michigan was for obstructing police, according to Chicago Police News Affairs.
The officer, whose gunshot wound to the leg was not life-threatening, was able to joke with the police superintendent while the officer was treated at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after the shooting.
The Calumet District officer, 27 and two years on the force, was responding to a call of shots fired around 9:15 p.m. when he and another plainclothes officer approached a group of people in a parking lot near the 13200 block of South Langley Avenue, police said.
One of the people, holding his waistband, ran away and the officers chased him, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said. The person turned around and fired and hit one of the officers in the thigh, police said.
His partner continued the chase and arrested the suspected gunman, police said. McCarthy said a gun was recovered.
Wright was expected to appear before an on-call Cook County Criminal Court judge Friday evening, following a request from Calumet Area detectives, News Affairs Officer Darry Baety said. He was expected to appear in Bond Court on Saturday.
