Aug 28, 2009 5:19 pm US/Central
Weis: Police Did The Right Thing In Loop Shooting
Knife-Wielding Panhandler Was Killed, Officer Was Hit By Another Officer's Bullet
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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A man was killed by police in a lunchtime shootout in the Loop, after the offender grabbed an elderly man and held the knife to his throat.
Adam Harrington/CBS
Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis says his officers acted appropriately in a deadly shooting in the heart of the Loop.
The officers shot at a suspect early Thursday afternoon near State and Randolph streets.
Jacob Paul Stolarz, 45, had been caught brandishing a knife and threatening people a block away at Wabash Avenue, and ran off when police tried to stop him. He was gunned down by officers when he grabbed an elderly man and held the knife to his throat.
"We had a male individual who was menacing people with a knife," said Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis. "Our guys responded to that situation, they ordered him to drop his knife, he refused to."
Weis said the officers shot the man three or four times. Witnesses said they heard up to eight shots.
Stolarz was pronounced dead at 1:09 p.m. at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Authorities said they believe Stolarz was homeless. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker took a look at Stolarz's life on the streets.
What was so shocking to Vanilla Mims was that the bearded man with the foreign accent she used to see every morning – panhandling on the corner of Wabash and Randolph – was killed on Thursday.
"I never seen him with a knife, no kind of weapon. … I have never seen him violent," Mims said.
While he may not have appeared to be violent to those who knew him on the streets, Stolarz did have a criminal record that included a 2003 misdemeanor charge for assault. He pleaded guilty and served two days in jail.
He also faced a misdemeanor charge in April 1995, but those charges were dropped.
Mims described Stolarz as a low-key man who spent his nights sleeping outside the Macy's department store at Wabash and Randolph and his days panhandling outside the nearby McDonald's with his best friend. The friend walked away when we tried to talk to him.
"He usually be right there sitting down, begging for change with his cup, with a sign saying 'I'm hungry and I'm homeless," Mims said.
His last address was a building on the North Side, but neighbors said he left here several years ago.
The Cook County medical examiner's office said no relatives have contacted them to identify his body.
Officer Wounded During Confrontation
A police officer was struck by another officer's bullet while he was trying the grab Stolarz on Thursday. Police say the bullet hit his protective vest, which saved his life, but the impact bruised his chest. He was taken to the hospital for observation.
A second officer was also taken to the hospital after inhaling some of the pepper spray that the police tried to use on the suspect before they resorted to deadly force.
Mayor Richard M. Daley declined to comment Thursday on the shooting and its high-profile setting. He deferred to Weis, who defended the shooting officer's actions under the circumstances.
"Police work isn't clean," Weis said. "Sometimes there are shots fired in close proximities. The officers are well-trained, they're very close on one another. It's unfortunate that one officer was shot in the vest. He's fine."
But if the officer accidentally got shot, some witnesses worry that others could have also been hurt.
"Why would they shoot out here? It was more than just me. There were more people walking back and forth that way," said witness Bobby Polk. "They were shooting. A bullet could have hit this person or that person."
"The action taken, at least from what I've been told at this time, is very close range," Weis said. "The officers were right on top of the individual and it's a judgment call."
Police did not identify the police officer who was shot. They'll only say he's 41 years old, with 11 years on the job. The officer who shot him is also not being identified. But we're told he's 40 years old with 16 years on the job.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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