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Off-duty Cook County CO shot in leg

The deputy, a 36-year-old man, was standing in front of a house when two people came out of a vacant lot nearby and opened fire

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Members of the Chicago Police Department investigate the scene of a shooting in the 7300 block of S. Aberdeen St. Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017 in Chicago.

Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/TNS

By Grace Wong and Megan Crepeau
McClatchy

CHICAGO — An off-duty Cook County sheriff’s officer was shot in the leg in Englewood late Saturday evening, Chicago police said.

The deputy, a 36-year-old man, was standing in front of a house in the 7300 block of South Aberdeen Street when two people came out of a vacant lot nearby and opened fire, shooting him in the leg, police said.

The deputy, who works as a correctional officer at Cook County Jail, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in good condition.

A childhood friend of the deputy was inside a house on the block, eating, when he heard about seven gunshots, he said.

His friend, the correctional officer, came inside the house and said he had been shot.

“He’s a good dude,” said the friend, who declined to give his name.

While the shooting initially appeared to be deliberate, whether the off-duty deputy was targeted remains unclear, police said, and the motive unknown.

“When (the deputy) emerged, shots were fired in his direction,” said Officer Kevin Quaid, a spokesman for the CPD. “But it wasn’t just him who was on the porch. Whether he was the intended target or not, that’s still under investigation.”

Local activist Eric Russell said he was putting out a “clarion call” for the shooter or shooters to turn themselves in.

Russell said if the offenders surrender, he and his fellow activists will provide a legal escort of the shooter or shooters to the Englewood District police station, he said. That way, anyone else matching the description of the shooters would not get stopped or “murdered or harrassed” by police, he said.

A hand-painted sign near the scene of the shooting read: “Stop killing your brothers, God Allah loves U.”

___ (c)2017 the Chicago Tribune

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