CHICAGO, IL. (THECOUNT) — A Chicago Police Department officer was shot and killed Saturday inside Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital in the city’s Lincoln Square neighborhood after a robbery suspect in their custody obtained a firearm and opened fire, CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling confirmed. Officer John Bartholomew, a 10-year veteran of the department, was pronounced dead. A second officer, a 21-year veteran, remains in critical condition and is “fighting for his life,” Snelling said. The suspected shooter was taken into custody after a brief manhunt.
Bartholomew was 38 years old.
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According to CPD and court records, the suspect is believed to have robbed a Family Dollar store at 3239 West Lawrence Avenue in Albany Park at gunpoint shortly after 8 a.m. Officers tracked him using a GPS device hidden in the stolen proceeds and arrested him approximately 20 minutes later. The suspect claimed he needed medical attention — a tactic he had reportedly employed during a prior arrest — and was transported to Swedish Hospital, at 5140 North California Avenue, for observation. Bartholomew and his partner accompanied the suspect as his security detail.
Roughly two hours after arriving at the hospital, the suspect obtained a firearm and shot both officers at approximately 10:50 a.m. He then fled the hospital on foot. Authorities issued shelter-in-place warnings for the surrounding neighborhood. The suspect was apprehended around noon in the 2600 block of West Carmen Avenue, several blocks from the hospital, after police and SWAT teams surrounded a private residence he had entered. A third firearm — beyond the officers’ sidearms — was recovered at the scene of the arrest, Snelling said.
It remains under investigation how the suspect obtained a weapon inside the hospital. Endeavor Health said the suspect “was wanded upon arrival” per its public safety weapon detection protocols and was escorted by law enforcement throughout the facility. Sources told Chicago media that police only realized the suspect was armed after he was stripped down at the hospital prior to his medical exam. Police sources who initially said the suspect disarmed one of the officers later walked back that account. Snelling said three weapons total were recovered by investigators.
According to court records reviewed by multiple outlets, the suspected shooter had been a fugitive for weeks at the time of the shooting — having escaped electronic monitoring — and was listed as an absconder by the Illinois Department of Corrections. He had two violent felony cases pending against him at the time of his robbery arrest. CPD has not released the suspect’s name publicly.
Bartholomew served in CPD’s 17th District and had been with the department for 10 years. He was a husband and father, according to 45th Ward Alderman Jim Gardiner, who said in a statement: “Please offer your thoughts and prayers for the family of Officer John Bartholomew, a 38-year-old husband and father, who was tragically murdered yesterday in the line of duty.” The second wounded officer, 57, also served in the 17th District and has been with the department for 21 years. His name had not been released as of Sunday morning.
Both officers were transported to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where Snelling and Mayor Brandon Johnson held a press conference Saturday afternoon. “Today is a real difficult moment for our city — it’s a tragedy,” Johnson said. “Officers stand in the way of harm every single day, risking their own lives. One of our officers will not be able to return to their family.”
Swedish Hospital is located at 5140 North California Avenue in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side, in Cook County. Lincoln Square is a historic neighborhood situated approximately 8 miles north of the Chicago Loop between the North Shore Channel and North California Avenue. The 17th District, where Bartholomew was assigned, serves the Rogers Park, Edgewater, and West Ridge communities on the city’s far north side.
The investigation into how the suspect obtained a firearm inside the hospital is ongoing. CPD, Endeavor Health, and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office are involved in the review.
The location of Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital at 5140 North California Avenue in Chicago can be viewed on Google Maps.
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