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Kohl's shooting: Chicago-area police officer dragged 'quite some distance'

Kohl's shooting: A duo of fleeing shoplifting suspects allegedly dragged a Romeoville, Ill., police officer with their car on Thursday evening outside of a Kohl's department store.

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Frank Vaisvilas/Chicago Sun-Times/AP
In this Nov. 28, 2013 photo police respond to a call at department store open on Thanksgiving in Romeoville, Ill., after an alleged shoplifting incident. Authorities said police officer answering a the call shot the driver of a car that was dragging a fellow officer. The wounded driver of the car and the dragged officer were both taken for hospital treatment of non-life-threatening shoulder injuries and three were arrested, according to police.
  • By Associated Press

| Chicago

A suburban Chicago police officer has been released from hospital after being dragged by a car driven by fleeing Thanksgiving Day shoplifting suspects, one of which was charged with attempted murder Friday.

Another police officer fired at the 52-year-old driver, who remained hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his arm following the Thursday night incident at a Kohl's department store in Romeoville, the Romeoville Police Department said in a statement. The suburb is about 30 miles southwest of Chicago.

The store reported suspected shoplifters to police just after 10 p.m. Thursday. As a patrol car approached the store, one suspect bolted out of a door, jumped into a waiting car and closed the door on the pursuing officer's arm. The driver then drove off — hauling the officer with him.

"The officer was dragged quite some distance," Romeoville Police Chief Mark Turvey said at a news conference.

Another officer repeatedly yelled at the driver to halt, then fired three or four shots, striking the driver with one bullet in the left arm and forcing him to stop, police said. The officer who became stuck in the car door injured his right shoulder.

Authorities later identified the passenger as Robert Russell, 51, of Joliet, who was charged with attempted murder, according to the Will County Sheriff's office website. The driver had not been charged as of Friday afternoon. A third man arrested in the store, Gerald Chamberlain, 28, of Joliet, was charged with felony theft.

The online sheriff's records did not include lawyers for either Russell or Chamberlain. There was no answer at a telephone number for a Robert Russell in Joliet. And there was no listing for a Gerald Chamberlain in the city.

There were no reports of any injuries to shoppers hunting for deals ahead of Black Friday.

Kohl's was still open Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, with people shopping inside while a small portion of a fire lane was taped off outside with several police cars nearby.

A spokeswoman Sydney Hofer for Menomonee Falls, Wis.,-based Kohl's declined any detailed comment in an email Friday.

"We are cooperating with the authorities leading the investigation and are referring all media inquiries to police," Hofer said.

Monica Fernandez, 41, of Romeoville, told the Sun-Times she had just pulled into the lot and was getting ready to shop Thursday night when she saw police chasing a man and heard gunshots.

"I ducked under my seat," Fernandez said. "It's crazy. Romeoville doesn't have a lot of crime like that."

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