Off-duty officer shoots man with gun at store

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

A Northwest Side man was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer during an attempted robbery at about 10:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 3, at Walgreens, 5230 N. Milwaukee Ave., according to the Chicago Police Department Office of News Affairs and 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.

The armed man entered the store and announced a robbery, and a 32-year-old-police officer who was using an automated teller machine announced his office and confronted the man, according to police. During the course of a struggle, the officer fired his gun in fear for his life and shot the man, police said.

The man was transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound at about 1:05 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

A weapon used in the attempted robbery was recovered from the store, police said.

The man was identified by police as Mark A. Garcia, age 56, of the 5800 block of West Higgins Avenue.