Woman Killed, Cop Wounded In Robbery

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 13, 2008 2:50PM

In what is being described as a "robbery gone bad," a woman was killed and an off-duty police officer was critically wounded early Wednesday morning on the West Side. The shooting occurred near the woman's home in the 3000 block of West Franklin Boulevard in the East Garfield Park neighborhood. Officers responded to reports of shots fired at 1:30 a.m. and found both the woman, 45-year old Kathryn Romberg, and the 49-year old unnamed officer, a 20-plus year veteran and an officer in the Bomb & Arson Section, in the officer's SUV. Romberg was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are still investigating the relationship between the two and there is speculation that they might have been related. The officer remains in critical condition at Mt. Sinai Hospital, suffering from multiple gun-shot wounds.

Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis, who was on the scene of the shooting, said, "It appears to be an attempted robbery...Right now, the detectives are conducting a thorough investigation at the scene. The officer is at the hospital, he's in critical condition, his family has been notified, and he's in critical condition." No suspects have been taken into custody as police continue their investigation.

The incident is the second such shooting involving a police officer this year in Chicago. In July, Officer Richard Francis, another 20-plus year veteran of the CPD, was shot and killed with his own gun in a struggle with a woman at a bus stop outside the Belmont District Police Headquarters. [Trib, S-T, CBS2]