Man with Butcher Knife Runs Amok in Chicago Theater District

As I was driving in to Chicago today, about 1 p.m., the WLSradio news team reported that a 6' 7" inch male in his fifties had been shot and killed by Chicago police in the downtown theater district, near the Chicago Theater at State and Randolph Streets. The WLS team was agog that the shooting took place less than 50 yards from their offices in broad daylight.

Two Channel 7 photographers were outside their building smoking and, as a result, ended up as witnesses to the entire event. ("Thank God people still smoke!" said one on-air talking head.)

The man shot was described as "an over-aggressive panhandler" who was apparently brandishing a large butcher knife. This caused understandable stress for the people in the streets, which were full at the time, as it was the lunch hour. Because it was the lunch hour and the original Marshall Fields (now Macy's) flagship store and a Border's bookstore are nearby, as well as the Chicago Theater and the downtown offices of WLS, there were a number of people who witnessed the incident.

Pepper spray was initially used on the man, which had no effect. The man with the knife took an older gentleman hostage. In preliminary reports, the radio people said that the assailant was pulled from the man and then held the knife to the throat of a woman, who was described as "curled in the fetal position against the curb" after the event, before she was taken away by ambulance. [I watched the news later in the day, and there was no mention of a female hostage, but the fact that a man with a butcher knife was menacing people in broad daylight in one of the busiest parts of town went unquestioned and the male hostage story stood up to scrutiny. Any civilian hostages were unharmed.]

The real kicker to the story is that 5 to 10 shots were fired, and one of the shots fired by police hit a fellow officer who, fortunately, was wearing a bulletproof vest, so that he sustained only minor injuries. (A local police official said the bullet did not penetrate the vest and the worst the injured 11-year veteran officer might suffer would be bruised ribs and a bruise at the site of the shot.) The radio news team that initially reported the story incredulously on the airwaves, said, somewhat redundantly, that the assailant had been "fatally killed."

The two officers firing their weapons had a combined total of 27 years of experience on the force. The commanding officer conducting the news conference on the 6 p.m. news, when asked why the officers did not use tasers, said the policemen did not have tasers with them and added, "We had a man who was trying to murder someone right in front of officers." I'm no fan of tasers, but this might have been a taser-worthy event, had the police had them. As it is, it is fortunate that the many shots fired (a) did not hit innocent bystanders (b) did not kill a fellow officer, who was undeniably hit.

Anthony Porse, a young African-American bystander interviewed by the WGN newscasters on the 6 o'clock news said, "I never saw anything like this happen in broad daylight." (near State and Lake). Bobby Polk, another eyewitness interviewed said that he heard four shots. He vouched for the fact that the officers told the man with the knife to put down his weapon and release the hostage three separate times. Mr. Polk seemed to feel that the man got what was coming to him, as he failed to comply with police requests to drop his weapon.

My only comment: I will not be shopping at Macy's downtown store at State and Randolph in the foreseeable future.