Police Shoot Knife-Wielding Man Inside Home

Chicago Police shot and killed a man Monday evening in the Gage Park neighborhood, authorities said.

About 5:45 p.m., police were called to a home in the 2500 block of West 50th Street. Hector Hernandez, 22, had come to the home despite an order of protection against him, according to Pat Camden, spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police.

When police arrived, Hernandez was on the front porch holding his 2-year-old baby, with a backpack in his other hand, according to a CPD news release. As officers arrived, he told them that he had a gun in the bag and that he was not going back to jail, Camden said.

Hernandez was on probation for domestic kidnapping and domestic battery, Camden said.

Police say while Hernandez was on the porch, a male relative inside the home opened the front door and an altercation ensued between the two. The struggle continued into the house when Hernandez handed the baby off to someone else and went into the kitchen, followed by officers, Camden said.

Once in the kitchen, he grabbed a knife and put it to his throat, again telling officers that he was not going back to jail, according to Camden. Officers tried to subdue Hernandez with a stun gun, but it had no effect.

Hernandez then put the first knife down and picked up a butcher knife and put it to his throat as officers tried to “talk him down,” Camden said.

Police say Hernandez went into another room where there were several other people, and after he moved at officers in an "aggressive manner," the officers, "fearing for their lives and the others in the room, opened fire, killing him.

Hernandez's family was distraught, wondering why police had to shoot to kill.

"Why not shoot his leg? Shoot his arm?" the victim's stepfather, Jamie Rivera, said. "If police want to tell me to my face what happened, I'm here."

The butcher knife was recovered at the scene, Camden said.

The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating.

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