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Suspect arrested in shootings of Chicago police officer, woman

Michael Blackman, 45, had been considered armed and dangerous, police said.
Image: Michael Blackman
Michael Blackman.Chicago Police Dept.

CHICAGO — The suspect in the Saturday morning shooting of a Chicago police officer was later shot by police and arrested, a department spokesman said.

Suspect Michael Blackman, 45, was wanted in connection with the morning attack on the officer in Chicago's South Side area, tweeted Anthony Guglielmi, chief communications officer for the Chicago Police Department.

Police also said they believe Blackman is the bicyclist suspected of shooting a woman in the back in broad daylight near downtown earlier in the week.

Blackman has not been charged in either shooting.

He was apprehended Saturday after a shootout with police, who tracked him to a vacant lot via security video, Deputy Chief Brendan Deenihan said at a news conference.

He was found near a rail yard and exchanged gunfire twice with officers, Deenihan said. Blackman sustained "eight holes" and a broken femur and was taken to a hospital, where he was in critical condition after surgery, he said.

No officers were shot, Deenihan said.

The wounded officer, whose name has not been released, was shot while trying to arrest Blackman early Saturday as part of a fugitive apprehension team sent to an address affiliated with the suspect, the deputy chief said.

Authorities had been searching for Blackman in connection with Wednesday's shooting of a woman in Chicago's Fulton River District, police said. The suspect went out a back door during the operation and opened fire, Deenihan said.

Doctors said the officer lost nearly a third of his blood from a groin injury despite applying a tourniquet, Guglielmi tweeted.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot went to the hospital and met with the officer's family.

On Friday, police released surveillance video from a bicycle shop showing Blackman at the counter getting a flat tire fixed just minutes before he allegedly rode up to a woman and shot her in the back. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the woman underwent surgery and is expected to survive.

Deenihan said Saturday it was unclear why she was attacked.

"It appears that he randomly targeted and shot this poor woman downtown," he said.