A bystander captured cellphone video after an Illinois State Police trooper shot two men in the back of a cab who were armed and suspected of robbing a taxi cab driver.
About 8:30 p.m. Thursday August 25, 2016, a cab driver flagged down state troopers in the middle of a traffic stop near West 77th Street and South Vincennes Avenue in the city’s West Chatham neighborhood. The taxi driver told them the two passengers in his backseat refused to pay their fare.
The troopers noticed a gun in the pocket of one of the passengers and told him to remove the weapon, according to Illinois State Police (ISP). The man allegedly ignored all police orders, and then the trooper shot him, according to ISP.
ABC 7 Chicago interviewed Jason Sledge, who witnessed the shooting.
“Pretty much it was a verbal exchange that was going back and forth. All you heard was, “Don’t move! Don’t move!” Then three shots and that was it,” Sledge said.
The two suspects, ages 23 and 25, were wounded. One man was shot twice in the lower abdomen. The other suspect was shot in the toe. BOth were transported to Stroger Hospital for treatment. Both men are expected to survive their injuries. One man was released into police custody overnight.
ISP troopers were not hurt.
A gun was recovered from the scene, and the police-involved shooting remains under investigation, according to ISP.
Also in south Chicagoland, a female driver’s car was hit by gunfire on northbound I-57 between US 30 and Vollmer Road Near Matteson. She was not injured. Northbound I-57 was shut down in the area from 1:15 a.m. until 4:00 a.m. while ISP searched for evidence. The troopers found six shell casings.
Car hit by gunfire on I-57 in south suburban Matteson https://t.co/2rklRDKT23
— NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) August 26, 2016
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