BLUE ISLAND, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago police officer fatally shot a motorist early Thursday after being called to investigate a suspicious vehicle, according to police.
Officers responded at about 1:35 a.m. to a 911 caller who said the vehicle’s driver’s-side door was ajar and a man was unresponsive in the driver’s seat, police in the Cook County city of Blue Island said.
When officers arrived, they saw a gun on the front passenger seat.
Additional officers arrived and they were able to wake the driver, who reached for the passenger seat, prompting an officer to fire one round, Blue Island police said in a statement posted on Facebook.
The man was struck in the torso area and later pronounced dead at a hospital in Oak Lawn, the statement said.
The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force is investigating the shooting.
Blue Island police said they have not disclosed the name of the deceased motorist and the officer who shot him because the shooting remains under active investigation.
