BREAKING News Out Of Chicago
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Source: https://goo.gl/UR7tEf
An ATF agent is fighting for his life Friday after being critically injured in a shooting in Chicago during a joint assignment with the city’s police force.
Residents near the ‘Back of the Yards’ neighborhood said they heard a series of gunshots around 3:15 a.m. local time and the agent was later rushed to a nearby hospital, Fox News report.
“Officer hit, we need an escort to the hospital now!” an officer is heard saying in police scanner traffic in the moments after the shooting. “We need an ambulance as soon as possible. Find someone to meet us. He may be hit in the head.”
The agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was wounded around 3:15 a.m. in the 4400 block of South Hermitage Avenue in the Back of the Yards, not far from Davis Square Park, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, but officials said his injury was not considered life-threatening.
The agent was part of a strike force formed last June to cut the flow of illegal guns into Chicago and crack down on people repeatedly arrested on gun charges, officials said. Twenty ATF agents were assigned to the task force, along with 20 officers from the Chicago Police Department and the Illinois state police. Chicago Tribune
The ATF was working with Chicago PD on tracking the extreme flow of illegal weapons in Chicago at the time of the shooting.
Before the announcement about the agent surge, President Trump took to Twitter, saying: “Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!”
The Back of the Yards neighborhood has become a hotbed for gang-related shootings in the last two years, leading to the deaths of 50 people out of the more than 140 that have been hit by gunfire, according to the Chicago Tribune.
God bless the agent an all of our Men and Women who genuinely “Protect and Serve” the citizens of the United States. Let us hope the agent recovers quickly and safely.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Chris “Badger” Thomas is a Veteran who served our country as an Army Combat Medic.