The Chicago police officer fatally shot Saturday at a Lincoln Square hospital was identified as John Bartholomew, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Bartholomew, 38, was shot alongside another officer at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital, 5140 N. California Ave., by a robbery suspect who had been arrested earlier that morning, police have said.
No update was provided Sunday on the second officer, who has not been named. He was “fighting for his life” in critical condition, police Superintendent Larry Snelling said Saturday at a news conference outside Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where both officers were taken after the shooting.
New details about the timeline of events have emerged through scanner audio of Chicago police conversations.
Around 8 a.m., roughly three hours before the shooting, the suspect robbed a convenience store in the 3200 block of West Lawrence Avenue in Albany Park. A 911 call came in reporting an armed man had attacked a woman, who was bleeding from the head, according to scanner audio.
Two suspects fled and one was arrested just before 9 a.m. at Kedzie Avenue and Roscoe Street in Avondale. He asked to be taken to a hospital because he wasn’t feeling well, according to scanner audio. Two hours later, the shooting happened at Swedish.
Chicago police confirmed a robbery was under investigation at the location of the convenience store but wouldn’t share other details.
At 10:50 a.m., the suspect shot Bartholomew and another officer, according to Chicago police. Officers responded to a call of an active shooter at Swedish at 10:53 a.m. and told SWAT teams to stand by, according to scanner audio.
By 10:58 a.m., police confirmed that an officer was shot and the suspect ran away on California Avenue. By 11 a.m., police confirmed two officers were shot and requested backup, according to scanner audio. Ambulances were diverted from the hospital and police secured a perimeter.
Less than 15 minutes later, SWAT teams arrived on the scene and CTA buses were rerouted to avoid the area, according to the scanner. Residents in the neighborhood around the hospital were warned to shelter in place briefly.
The suspect was arrested around 12:10 p.m., according to Ald. Andre Vasquez, (40th) whose ward includes Swedish and the surrounding area.
Bartholomew had worked for the police department for 10 years, Snelling said. He worked in the 24th District, which covers Rogers Park, Edgewater and West Ridge. The wounded officer, who was being treated at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, is 57 and has worked for CPD for 21 years, Snelling said. The wounded officer’s name has not been released.
It remains unclear how the suspected shooter had a gun when he was arrested. A surveillance photo obtained by the Sun-Times appeared to show him running naked, with electrodes on his chest.
Endeavor Health, the hospital system that includes Swedish Hospital, said the suspect “was wanded upon arrival” as part of its “public safety weapon detection protocols.”
Police sources initially said the suspected shooter disarmed one of the officers who was shot. But later Saturday, a source said police only realized the suspect was armed when he was stripped down at the hospital, before opening fire.
Snelling said police investigating the shooting had recovered three weapons.