CHICAGO (RNN) - Police said a suspect was shot and there are multiple victims injured near Mercy Hospital and Medical Center on the South Side of Chicago.
Shots were fired both inside and outside the hospital between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. CT, police said.
One of the injured is a Chicago police officer who is in critical condition.
“He is in critical condition but receiving excellent care,” Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted. “Please send your prayers.”
The officer was taken to University of Chicago Medicine, about four miles south of Mercy.
NotifyChicago: Please avoid the area of Mercy Hospital 2520 S Prairie due to Police Activity. Seek alternate route. Tune to local media for more information.
— Chicago OEMC (@ChicagoOEMC) November 19, 2018
It’s not clear how many people are injured and if they were all injured from gunfire.
“Officers are doing a methodical search of Mercy hospital,” Guglielmi said on Twitter.
Multiple witnesses reported hearing gunshots.
“I am scared as hell. I have never been so scared, I hear of shootings going on every day at people’s workplaces, but not where I work at. This was very too close to me. That could have been us back there and if any bullets had pierced the wall we all would have been hurt,” an employee of the hospital’s family clinic told WLS TV.
Tracy Lyons was walking out of the hospital when gunfire erupted.
“All of a sudden you hear five to six gunshots,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times. Lyons saw police exchanging shots with someone near the hospital. “So, I ran inside the building to alert the receptionist and the nurse, ‘They are are shooting outside.’”
A #ChicagoPolice officer has been shot in the active shooter incident at Mercy Hospital. He is in critical condition but receiving excellent care. Please send your prayers. pic.twitter.com/kFfMY1ZmF7
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) November 19, 2018
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