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Colin Flaherty discusses and reviews news coverage of police officer deaths.[link to the most recent one Cmdr. Paul Bauer which happened today Feb 13, 2018 in a downtown building, the Thompson Center in Chicago]http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/lo...Chicago Tribune staffContact ReporterA high-ranking Chicago police officer was shot to death at the Thompson Center on Tuesday afternoon while assisting a tactical team that was chasing a person who was acting suspiciously, police said.

Cmdr. Paul Bauer of the Near North District was shot several times a little before 2 p.m., according to police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. He said a suspect was taken into custody and a gun recovered.

Its a difficult day for us, but well get through it, Johnson told reporters outside Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where Bauer had been taken.

Bauer, 53, joined the department in 1986 and worked all across the city over his career from the South Side to the specialized mounted patrol unit to his current position as commander of the busy and high-profile Near North District.

Bauer was shot after a man started running from tactical officers who had tried to stop him for questioning, according to Johnson. The officers radioed a description that the commander heard, he said. Bauer, in the area of the Thompson Center after a training session, confronted the suspect, who opened fire.

Police radio traffic caught the moments before the shooting, including a warning from one of the pursuing officers, Dont anybody get hurt. We just wanted to do a street stop on him.

At the beginning of the chase, an officer is heard saying over the radio that he had tried to stop the suspect but he took off running. "He took off, he was running from me, we just had a shooting the other day," the officer radioed.

He described the suspect as wearing a long black coat with a fur collar and last seen running south on Dearborn Street. Within a minute, another officer said he saw the man. He told a dispatcher he was near Clark and Lake streets, State of Illinois building towards City Hall.

It was the last thing heard from the officer. The dispatcher asked, repeatedly, over the course of more than three minutes for the officer to come back on the air. There was no response.

The first officer came back on the air and said, Dont anybody get hurt. We just wanted to do a street stop on him and he took off on me. But he was in the area where weve had a lot of narcotics sales and a shooting on Saturday.

The dispatcher replied, "I understand, but somebody else is following him and we want to make sure we get him help.

A different officer came on the air and said police found the suspect and had him in handcuffs. They said the suspect had a gun on him.

An officer came on the air reporting a person had been shot. We have a person shot in the stairwell. Possibly related to the guy we were chasing at the State of Illinois building.

The dispatcher said, OK, is that an off-duty PO (police officer)?

The first officer got back on the air and said, Theres a radio laying (sic) next to him. Oh s---. Squad, I need somebody over here ASAP. It is.

Dispatcher: We have a 10-1, we have an off-duty shot. We have units on the scene.

Guglielmi later clarified that Bauer was actually on duty at the time of the shooting.

Noreen Janko said she was walking back to her office building across the street from the Thompson Center when she heard shots.

I heard the gunshots go off, about five shots, and then the stairs there to the Pedway, I think they have the guy cornered because they lock those doors down there, Janko said. So they took him with shackles and then they put him in the squad. Then the ambulance came, about five minutes (later) they brought out a guy who was shot. He was on the stretcher, there was blood and they were doing (CPR).

I was walking down the street and I heard pop pop pop pop pop, Janko said. And I said to the girl next to me, Is that what I think it is? And she said, Yep. I said, Aw geez. And everybody is scurrying all over and I see the police head to the stairs there. Theres a stairwell there. And it goes downstairs. I heard that the door is locked there. It used to be a Pedway, but now, for security reasons they have it locked.

Anyway, so they had him cornered, and eventually they brought him up the stairs and put him in the squad, Janko said.

During his tenure in the Near North District, Bauer spoke publicly about trying to rebuild trust in the community but also the frustration he felt about the high bar to prosecution when it came to career offenders.

Were not talking about the guy who stole a loaf of bread from the store to feed his family, he told the Loop North News in November 2017. Were talking about career robbers, burglars, drug dealers. These are all crimes against the community. They need to be off the street.

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Colin Flaherty: Police Shootings/Deaths - YouTube