A convicted felon on parole has been charged with attempted murder after shooting three officers, including one who was struck in the face, outside a Chicago police station Thursday.
Authorities believe 26-year-old Lovelle Jordan hid a gun in his groin area before police arrested him earlier that day on suspicion of carjacking. The handcuffed suspect managed to grab the weapon while riding in an officer’s squad car and opened fire as soon as the cop opened the vehicle’s back door at the city’s Northwest Side station, according to police.
Deputy Chief Brendan Deenihan said Jordan’s hands were cuffed behind his back, but it appears that he was able to access the firearm by sliding his arms underneath his legs. Investigators believe the shooter had the gun “extremely secreted, probably very close to his private area,” Deenihan told reporters at a news conference Friday morning.
The other two officers who were shot were treated and released from the hospital. The first cop, who was the lone officer driving the suspect to the station, is “doing well” despite injuries to his chin and neck, authorities said.
Jordan was struck multiple times in the shootout that ensued and was hospitalized in critical condition. Deenihan said it’s possible that the suspect could be paralyzed from the chest down.
The gunman’s confrontation with police began around 9 a.m. Thursday after cops found an unoccupied white Porsche that had been reported stolen in a carjacking in June. Several officers were parked near the vehicle when Jordan showed up and tried to drive away in front of the police, Deenihan said.
“It just shows how emboldened these criminals are,” the deputy chief told reporters.
“The officers are right there and this guy walks right past in front of the officers’ car and just jumps in this vehicle, tries to start it and drive away while the officers are right there,” he said. “And now we know, after all this, that the guy had a gun on him too.”
The officers rushed to vehicle and manage to stop Jordan from taking off. After a struggle, he was handcuffed and searched before being placed into a squad car, police said.
Deenihan defended the officers’ actions and said they did everything they could.
“These guys didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “As a matter of fact, they got out of the car and arrested this guy within three seconds before he was able to drive away… It’s the offender’s actions that (led) to this officer getting shot.”
The heavily tattooed convict was serving a five-year prison sentence when he was released on parole in April, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. His previous convictions involved drug charges as well as aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Jordan is now charged with six counts of attempted murder and one count each of possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a weapon as a felon.
*story by New York Daily News