Officers Shoot, Kill Knife-Wielding Man in Bridgeport

Union spokesman: officers told the man to drop large butcher knife three times

Chicago police early Friday morning shot and killed a man they say came at them with a knife as they tried to calm a domestic dispute at an apartment in the city's Bridgeport neighborhood.

Officers were called to the second-floor apartment of a building on the 3300 block of South Halsted Street where they found a man with a large butcher knife, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said.

The officers told the man to drop the knife three times, but the man refused and approached them with the knife, Camden said. An officer then fatally shot the man in self-defense, Camden said.

"It's very easy. Police tell you to drop the knife, [you should] drop the knife. Obviously the woman was very concerned. She called the police for her safety and now the police arrive on the scene and you're going to put them in jeopardy," he said.

A statement from the police department later said the man had two knives and had beaten his girlfriend prior to the officers' arrival.

Family members on the scene identified the slain man as 44-year-old Felix Valdez, who was originally from Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. He's a father of 10 children, and family members said he and his girlfriend lived in the apartment for about the last six months.

Those on the scene said they weren't sure what the couple's dispute was regarding but said they have had domestic issues in the past.

Camden said nobody else was injured in the shooting, although two officers were "shaken up" by the incident and taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center as a precautionary measure.

As is standard with officer-involved shootings, the department's Independent Police Review Authority will conduct an investigation.
 

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