Chicago officer critically hurt when shots fired into car

A Chicago police officer has been hospitalized in critical condition after she was shot on the city’s South Side

A Chicago police officer was taken to a hospital in critical condition Wednesday after she was shot while attempting to make a traffic stop on the city's South Side, authorities said.

In a news conference at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police Supt. David Brown said that at 5:42 p.m. two uniformed officers were in a marked squad car attempting a traffic stop in the West Englewood neighborhood.

The car the officers were trying to pull over first sped up, and then slowed down to pull even with the squad car, Brown said. At that point, someone in the car started firing a gun at the officers.

The officer who was driving was shot and wounded in her upper body, Brown said. The officer who had been in the passenger seat drove the wounded officer to the hospital.

The wounded officer was in critical but stable condition, Brown said. Her name hasn't been released.

The suspects' vehicle crashed nearby and suspects fled from it, police said. They remained at large Wednesday night.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a statement Wednesday night saying she has asked Brown “to use every resource possible to find the person responsible for this attempted murder of a police officer and bring them to justice.”

Lightfoot said she and her family were “praying for the injured officer and the entire Department.”