ATF agent shot outside Chicago during controlled drug buy, another person killed, official says

An ATF agent was shot near the intersection of 21st and Broadway in Gary, Indiana on Thursday. (Google Street View)

An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was shot and another person was killed Thursday during a controlled drug buy in Gary, Ind., southeast of Chicago, officials said.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said that he was told that the ATF agent was conducting a controlled drug buy when a shootout unfolded.

The ATF tweeted that the bureau's Chicago Field Division was responding to "an agent being shot during an operation."

Carter said that according to a report he received, the agent was shot in the chest and the other person involved in the shooting died. ATF spokesman Thomas Ahern said one offender was shot by law enforcement but it remained unclear if this was the person who died.

Conflicting reports surfaced over the status of the agent’s injury. Chicago Police Department said in a tweet Thursday afternoon that the agent was “critically wounded” but Ahern said that the agent’s medical condition was unclear.

The shooting took place near the intersection of 21st and Broadway in Gary, Fox 32 reported.

ATF AGENT SHOT IN THE FACE DURING MISSION TO INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL GUNS IN CHICAGO

Earlier this year, an undercover ATF agent was shot in the face in Chicago during a joint operation with the city's police force.

The ATF office sent 20 agents to Chicago last year, about 30 miles away, to help local authorities combat the city's gun violence epidemic. The agents joined dozens of law enforcement officials already in the city.

Before the announcement about the agent surge, President Trump tweeted: “Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!”

Fox News' Ruth Ravve in Chicago and Greg Norman contributed to this report.