Chicago Police Department(CHICAGO) — A 19-year-old woman was arrested after she allegedly shot and wounded a Chicago police officer who was part of a tactical team serving a warrant at her home — the latest in a string of incidents nationwide in which law enforcement officers have been killed or injured while executing warrants.
Emily Petronella, 19, was hit with a slew of charges from the Saturday night incident, including attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault on a peace officer, according to Chicago Police Department officials.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Petronella allegedly fired one shot through a rear door of her home, wounding the 34-year-old officer. Members of the tactical unit did not return fire.
“This is another illustration of how dangerous it is for police officers to serve search warrants,” Johnson said at a news conference Saturday night.
The shooting came just two days after a deputy sheriff was shot and killed while helping to serve an arrest warrant in Rockford, Illinois, on a fugitive at a hotel.
On Saturday, a police tactical team was serving a search warrant at a home in the Humboldt Park neighborhood when the shooting unfolded just after 7 p.m., Johnson said.
“While they were attempting to breach the rear door, a shot was fired through the door, striking an officer … in the shoulder,” Johnson said.
At the time of the shooting, Patronella was free on $10,000 bond stemming from being charged in February with a misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a weapon, officials said.
Johnson said officers were serving a search warrant for narcotics and illegal weapons suspected of being inside the home.
During the raid, police seized more than 5,000 grams, or a little over 11 pounds, of marijuana, a semiautomatic pistol and large bundles of cash.
During a bond hearing on Sunday, Petronella’s attorney, Stefan Fenner, said his client opened fire on what she mistakenly thought were burglars attempting to break open her door, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Fenner claimed the officers did not announce they were police before trying to enter the home.
Johnson said at Saturday night’s news conference that members of the tactical unit identified themselves as police as they attempted to serve the warrant.
He added that “all of our officers, typically, when we do search warrants have some kind of CP [Chicago Police] identification on them so that you can clearly see that they are the police.”
“And besides that,” he added, “we always station uniformed police cars with them.”
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