Jermaine Morris, 34, was charged with one felony count of attempted first-degree murder. He will not appear in Central Bond Court since he is a person of interest in an unrelated incident and detectives are currently seeking charges in that case.
The shooting happened in the 1300-block of South Kedvale Avenue in the city’s Lawndale neighborhood Friday.
RELATED: Reported carjackings more than double in 2020: police
The off-duty officer shot the man who he claims was trying to steal his car.
“The police just opened fire on him. And my brother got to running, and who is gonna stand there while the police are shooting at you,” said the suspect’s sister, Iesha Brown. “Now I’m just trying to figure out, like, how they are trying to clean that thing up, trying to make it seem like a carjacking. This man ain’t ever carjacked nobody in his life.
The man was shot in the arm and taken to Mt. Sinai hospital in fair condition, according to a CFD spokesperson.
Two other suspects were also taken into custody from the incident, police said.
The shooting comes just hours after Chicago police released crime statistics showing that while overall crime is down, carjackings in Chicago have increased over 100%, and the number of murders and shootings have significantly increased compared to last year.
According to CPD data, in 2020, there were 1,362 vehicular hijackings in Chicago compared to 663 vehicular hijackings in 2019.
The crime stats also show the number of murders and shootings rose last year in comparison to the year before that.
The community is also on edge after a pair of 51 year olds were critically wounded when they were shot while sitting in their living room just as the new year rang in. The gunfire erupted just a few minutes after midnight near 87th and Buffalo Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood.
Police Superintendent David Brown points to the pandemic and civil unrest as factors in the uptick of certain crimes.
In a statement released Friday, he promised change.
“The best way to reduce crime and violence is to prevent it from happening in the first place by building bridges and trust in the community….a safer Chicago will be rooted in a five-pillar strategy for strategic change: Growing Community Trust, Transformational Change through Reform, Officer Wellness, Ensuring Public Safety and Strengthening Investigations,” Brown said.
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Source: ABC7 Chicago
