Injured Police Officer Dies

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 1, 2009 9:40PM

A sad end to a story from earlier today: the Chicago Police officer who was shot responding to a call this morning has died as a result of his injuries. According to Police Supt. Jody Weis, Alejandro "Alex" Valadez, 27, died about 2:40 p.m. this afternoon. He had been with the department for about three years. The Sun-Times and Chicago Breaking News have more details.

Valadez's death continues a sad trend for the Chicago Police Department. After a six-year break, three Chicago Police officers have been killed in the line of duty in less than a year. Officer Richard Francis, a 27-year veteran, was killed last July during a struggle with a woman who had been harassing a CTA bus passenger outside the police headquarters at Belmont and Western. Then, last September, Officer Nathaniel Taylor, Jr. was shot by a suspect as he and other police attempted to execute a warrant. The shooter, Lamar Cooper, had previously served time in prison for attempted murder stemming from another shooting of a cop.

Another police officer, Robert Soto, was shot and killed along with a companion while off-duty. It was an apparent robbery and while Jason Austin was originally arrested for the killings, he was eventually set free. Then in March of this year, off-duty officer Cameron Karshna was killed in a motorcycle accident.