Murder charges are pending for a hospital employee wanted for allegedly shooting a woman to death in the University of Illinois Medical Center hospital parking garage early Friday.
A campus police officer recognized him during a traffic stop on the heels of a multi-hour “roof to basement” man hunt at the Near West Side hospital.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office identified the victim as 48-year-old Angela Bonds-Roberts of 3400 block of S. Harlem in North Riverside. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:40 a.m.
About 6:31 a.m., a UIC police officer making a traffic stop at 14th Street and Damen Avenue recognized the occupant of the vehicle as the person of interest in the medical center slaying, UIC Associate Chancellor of Public Affairs Mark Rosati said.
The 47-year-old man was arrested near Hoyne Avenue and 13th Street after a brief foot chase, Rosati said. Police recovered the weapon allegedly used in the shooting in the 2200 block of West 13th Street, he said.
He has not yet been charged and will be taken to the UIC Police headquarters for processing, Rosati said.
Police first responded after a gunman allegedly shot the woman about 11:40 p.m. in the garage 1800 block of West Taylor Street, officials said. Police initially thought he may have headed back into the hospital, prompting police to respond to the incident as a barricade situation.
A source said both the man in custody and the victim worked as maintenance workers at the hospital. As the woman was walking toward the parking garage after her shift had ended, the man approached her and fired shots, striking her in the head and torso.
Fire department crews were able to reach the woman shot, Chicago Police Sgt. Al Stinites said, but she was dead at the scene.
A “massive response” and police search did not turn up any indication that the shooter ever re-entered the hospital, Rosati said in an earlier press conference outside the hospital.
“A very large presence of Chicago and UIC police have conducted a very thorough, room by room, top to bottom, roof to basement search of the hospital going through multiple times and have found no sign that anyone was there who shouldn’t be, Rosati said.
Sources said the woman was in the head with a long-barreled handgun. She was also employed at the hospital, and the shooter was a housekeeper employed by the hospital for 15 years, according to Rosati, who said he had knowledge of the hospital grounds.
Chicago police had earlier recovered the gunman’s car near the hospital campus during the lockdown.
The hospital has resumed normal operations Friday morning, Rosati said. He would not comment on whether security cameras in the garage or the hospital may have captured footage of the shooting or the gunman.
No one else was reported injured and no one was taken hostage in the incident, officials said.
The hours-long search started to wrap up shortly after 5 a.m. Police made multiple sweeps through every room and through a network of tunnels connecting buildings on the hospital campus as a police helicopter beamed down a spotlight from above.
Police remain in the area Friday morning, searching the grounds around a building in the 1200 block of South Damen Avenue Friday morning looking for evidence. Police tape surrounds the side and backyard of the building.
Class is not in session at the nearby University of Illinois at Chicago campus because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but UIC officials kept students and community members updated on the situation through a series of text messages, e-mails and online alerts.more information...
Source: http://www.suntimes.com
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