Man Injured in Police Shooting Inside Brighton Park Bar
CHICAGO — New details have emerged about a police shooting that left a man injured inside a Brighton Park bar over the weekend. The information comes as prosecutors charge the man, 36-year-old Fernando Guzman, with attempted murder and other felonies, saying he fired a gun at Chicago cops before an officer returned fire, striking him in the head.
Guzman, 36, remained hospitalized as the allegations were presented to Judge William Fahy at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Prosecutors said officers responded to a bar in the 3900 block of South Kedzie around 12:20 a.m. Saturday to handle a “person with a gun call.” Cops were told that a man wearing a construction vest pointed a gun at someone.
When they arrived, the officers approached Guzman and asked him if he had a gun because someone directed officers toward him and he matched the description, officials said.
Guzman brandished the firearm and one of the officers tried to disarm him, prosecutors said in a detention petition. During the altercation, Guzman fired a shot toward an officer, and another cop at the scene returned fire, striking Guzman in the left side of the head, according to the petition.
Prosecutors said the bar security cameras and the officers’ body cameras recorded the incident.
Guzman faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault of a peace officer, and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Judge Fahy ordered him to remain in custody until he is out of the hospital and a judge can consider the state’s detention petition.
Court records show Guzman was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful use of a firearm in 2015, but a judge found him not guilty in a bench trial.
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