Woman dies following North Center police shooting

A woman has died after she was shot by a Chicago police officer in the North Center community on the North Side Friday night.It happened in the 3900 block of North Western Avenue near a CVS pharmacy, police and other officials said. Shortly before 6 p.m.,...

Woman dies following North Center police shooting

A woman has died after she was shot by a Chicago police officer in the North Center community on the North Side Friday night.

It happened in the 3900 block of North Western Avenue near a CVS pharmacy, police and other officials said.

Shortly before 6 p.m., officers responded to a call of a disturbance at the CVS Pharmacy at Irving Park Road and Western Avenue, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said at the scene.

"We had an adult female that was being combative and was destroying some property inside," he said.

When officers arrived, the woman was outside of the pharmacy before the officers approached her, said Guglielmi.

She walked toward the officers, both assigned to the Town Hall patrol district, and they saw that she was armed with "what appeared to be a knife," said Guglielmi.

Shot by police John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune

Police officers watch over the scene in the 3900 block of North Western Avenue on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017 in Chicago. A woman in her 40s was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer near a CVS pharmacy.

Police officers watch over the scene in the 3900 block of North Western Avenue on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017 in Chicago. A woman in her 40s was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer near a CVS pharmacy.

(John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

He said the woman "made some threatening statements" and the officers tried to calm her down. She continued to walk toward the officers, before they deployed a Taser on her two times, Guglielmi said.

"That had no effect," he said. "She continued to advance after that, making threatening statements toward the officers, and the officers discharged their service weapons."

Guglielmi said the woman was shot twice and transported to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead. He said the woman had no identification on her and hasn't been identified yet. Guglielmi said the woman is believed to be about 40 or 50 years old, and a knife was recovered.

He said the officers, who were not hurt, have more than 10 years' experience with the Police Department. They will be placed on a 30-day administrative assignment, mandatory for all Chicago police officers involved in shootings.

Guglielmi said the shooting might have been captured on a squad car dashboard camera, which will be reviewed.

He said he didn't know whether the woman had mental problems. But he noted that the emergency call to the pharmacy did not come in as a call for a "Crisis Intervention Team," officers who are trained to deal with the mentally ill.

Darryl Dixon, 55, said he saw the woman lunge at one of the officers.

"She was yelling...'I got a knife! I will cut you! Get back! I will cut you! I'm not playing!'"

A witness driving eastbound on Irving Park Road had stopped at the red light at Western. After it turned green and he began making a right turn onto Western, he suddenly halted because about two feet in front of his SUV, there was a woman standing in the brick crosswalk flanked by two police officers.

She was wearing a dark colored puffy down coat, baggy pants, and a stocking cap. She was holding a fountain drink in one of her hands. The woman did not appear to be doing anything aggressive and there was no physical contact with her and the officers, according to the witness.

As the uniformed officers, a woman and man, stood near her, the male officer screamed out multiple times “Drop it!’’  or “Stop it!’’ the witness said.

The women then turned toward the female officer, and he heard “Pow, Pow!’’ The woman dropped her drink and collapsed on the street falling on her right side. “She didn’t move again,’’ he said.

Her eyes remained open but she was motionless as the male officer kicked a dark colored object toward the curb.

The witness said he did not see the officer’s gun when he fired and noticied a Taser on the ground nearby.

Within moments the area was swarmed with dozens of police officers and at least one helicopter.

“This happened so quickly,'' he said. “I’m shaken up.’’

Check back for details.

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