A Chicago police officer was gunned down and killed Tuesday attempting to apprehend a robbery suspect.
Commander Paul Bauer, 53, was a 31-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department. He died in a stairwell in a downtown building.
Police have yet to publicly I.D. the suspect but said he was in custody. Local reports say the culprit is a 44-year-old man from the South Side with a felony record going back to 1998, according to police sources and public records.
Authorities are expected to charge him within the next day.
Bauer marks the seventh police officer to be shot to death while on duty in just the last eight days, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks police officer deaths. Just three days before Bauer was killed, K9 Officer Eric Joering and Officer Anthony Morelli were both shot to death while responding to a situation at a downtown apartment complex in Cincinnati.
So far this year, just 45 days in 2018, a total of 12 police officers have been killed by gunfire in the line of duty.