Suburban Chicago cop, driver injured during shootout

FOREST PARK, Ill. (AP) - A suburban Chicago police officer was one of two people who suffered gunshot wounds when a motorist who was pulled over for a traffic stop jumped out of his vehicle and opened fire, authorities said.

David Powers, a spokesman for the Oak Park Police Department, said one of the village's officers was assisting officers from neighboring Forest Park on Harlem Avenue above the Eisenhower Expressway at about 7 a.m. when the car's driver opened fire. The officer returned fire, striking the driver.

Both the officer and the driver were taken to Loyola University Medical Center in nearby Maywood, to be treated for what Powers described as serious but not life-threatening injuries.

The officer is the latest member of law enforcement to be involved in shootings in the area in recent weeks. In nearby Chicago, four police officers have been shot in a little more than two weeks, including an officer who was shot in the shoulder on March 26 in a shootout with an alleged shoplifter at a Home Depot. The 18-year-old alleged shoplifter was fatally shot in the incident after he shot the officer and a store security guard.