Police from various agencies investigate the scene where a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent was shot, Friday, May 4, 2018, in Chicago. (Associated Press)
Authorities in Chicago continued their search early Saturday for a suspect who shot a federal agent in the face during a joint operation with the city’s police force in what officials called a pre-dawn ambush.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering a reward of up to $61,000 for information leading to the suspect’s arrest and conviction in the wounding of one of its agents.
"We will find you," Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a Friday news conference. "We will knock on every door, talk to every witness, watch every piece of video and analyze every piece of evidence. Believe me, you will not get away with this.”
"We will find you. We will knock on every door, talk to every witness, watch every piece of video and analyze every piece of evidence. Believe me, you will not get away with this.”
The ATF special agent was wounded around 3:15 a.m. Friday while working with the Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police as part of a newly formed joint task force investigating the flow of illegal firearms entering the city, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The agent, in his late 20s, was rushed to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, but was later stabilized with a facial injury close to his eye, police told the newspaper. The agent has not been identified, but was expected to make a full recovery.
No other officers were hurt, but he was the fourth law enforcement officer shot in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood in the past year, the Tribune reported.
Chicago police work the scene near the area where a federal agent was shot and critically wounded in Chicago while working on an investigation with local authorities on Friday, May 4, 2018. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune via AP)
“Officer hit, we need an escort to the hospital now!” an officer is heard saying in police scanner traffic in the moments after the shooting. “We need an ambulance as soon as possible. Find someone to meet us. He may be hit in the head.”
The shooting prompted a massive manhunt for the gunman, as hundreds of officers from specialized gang and organized crime units were reassigned to take part in the search for the suspect. The gunman has not been identified.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the area of the South Side neighborhood will be on "lockdown" through the weekend while officials combed through video of the scene as the manhunt continued.
Officials declined to release details on the task force’s investigation.
The Back of the Yards neighborhood has become a hotbed for gang-related shootings in the last two years, leading to the deaths of 50 people out of the more than 140 that have been hit by gunfire, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Previously in the area, two Chicago police officers were shot with a high-powered rifle while in an undercover van about a year ago, while another officer was shot in a leg last July while chasing down robbers, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"You think that escapes us? It doesn't," a visibly angry Johnson said at the Friday news conference. "We're not taking this lying down."
Fox News’ Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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