019 District—Officer Richard Francis, 60 Belmont Avenue officer with 27 years on the job was apparently shot dead by a woman who snatched the officer’s own service pistol. The woman was also shot by another officer. Both the officer who later died and the female suspect were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. The woman was in critical condition. Crimefile grieves with the family of police hero Richard Francis who gave his life in the service of the citizens of Chicago
Officers please be careful and always follow your training.
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An on-duty Chicago police officer died early Wednesday after a woman took his gun and shot him near a Northwest Side police station. The woman was then shot and wounded by responding officers.
A Belmont District patrol officer was fatally shot about 2 a.m. near the intersection of Belmont and Western avenues, police Supt. Jody Weis said during a press conference.
Richard Francis, 60, of an unknown home address, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 2:57 a.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said.
The officer, on routine patrol, was at the scene of a “disturbance” and approached a woman. A struggle then ensued between the officer and the woman and she grabbed the officer’s service weapon and shot him, Weis said.
The woman then threatened responding officers, who shot and wounded her, according to Weis.
The officer was initially taken to Illinois Masonic in critical condition, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said.
The shooting happened near Belmont Area headquarters, at the 2400 block West Belmont Avenue.
RIP Officer Richard Francis
Bob Gordon, father of Fallen Chicago Officer:
Michael P. Gordon, EOW: 8/8/04
Are one-person patrols too dangerous?
RICHARD FRANCIS | Some question safety
Chicago Police Officer Richard M. Francis was patrolling alone when he was shot to death -- renewing decades-old questions about the department's use of "one-man cars."
Thirty-five years ago, after Officer Robert F. Wenzel was killed, the Fraternal Order of Police and others blasted the department for allowing officers to patrol alone, saying they needed a partner to back them up in dangerous situations.
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Wenzel, 36, was shot in his squad car after he stopped a car for a traffic check Jan. 19, 1973. His killer, Richard Luckey, now 80, is still in prison.
Hours after Wenzel was killed, then-Police Supt. James B. Conlisk Jr. announced that "as soon as possible," all patrol and traffic division cars would have two officers on after-dark shifts.
The FOP had encouraged officers to refuse to work in one-man cars regardless of the time of day, calling them "rolling coffins."
On Nov. 28, 1989, Supt. LeRoy Martin addressed the "confusion" about one-man cars:
"There is a need for both one-officer and two-officer patrol car operations. [But] during the hours of darkness, district patrol units will normally have two officers assigned, unless operational requirements dictate otherwise."
A sergeant said he frowns on one-man cars at night for safety reasons, but they're still allowed because of manpower shortages and because some officers prefer to work alone.
"I've never seen things this bad, manpower-wise, in a long time," a commander said.
A spokeswoman for Police Supt. Jody Weis declined comment.
Francis, 60, normally worked with a partner in a squadrol -- a police wagon -- but opted to work alone in a squad car on his early-morning shift Wednesday because his partner was off duty. He was killed while responding to a disturbance involving a CTA bus. A mentally ill woman disarmed Francis and shot him in the head, police said.
A two-officer squad car was about a block away when Francis called for assistance. The arriving officers shot the woman, identified as Robin Johnson, 44, when she threatened them, police said. She remains in critical condition
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1040182,CST-NWS-copcars04.article#