A University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officer shot and seriously injured a man — who appeared to be suffering from a mental health condition —  just before noon today in Hyde Park. 

In an email to the University of Chicago community at 1:56 p.m. Tuesday, the university’s Vice President for Health and Safety and Security Eric Heath said a UCPD officer was on patrol that morning and saw a man with a gun near the corner of 53rd Street and South Woodlawn Avenue.

“The officer stopped his vehicle to investigate. The individual fired shots, and the officer then fired his weapon, striking the individual,” Heath wrote in the email.

The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment. His current condition is unknown. No one else was hurt during the shooting. 

Audio that the TRiiBE accessed from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) scanner website crimeisdown.com, described the moments leading up to the suspect’s shooting. First, around 11:41 a.m., a dispatcher tells officers that a man wearing all black clothing and white shoes is waving a gun on the corner of 53rd Street and South Woodlawn Avenue.

Additionally, the dispatcher announces that the suspect is schizophrenic.

Audio recording of dispatch identifying the suspect as schizophrenic during a shooting incident at 5300 S. Woodlawn. The recording was retrieved from the CPD scanner website crimeisdown.com and has been edited for time. The link was provided to The TRiiBE on behalf of #carenotcops.

In the following clip, which takes place around 11:45 a.m., the dispatcher again mentions the suspect’s clothing, describes him as a Black man in his 30s, and once more identifies the suspect’s mental state as schizophrenic. A few seconds later, the dispatcher says the man is shooting at the police and that the police have returned fire. 

A few hours after the shooting, UChicago student group #CareNotCops posted on Twitter that the man shot by UCPD appeared to be undergoing a mental health crisis after listening to police scanner audio. The organization, which is committed to building alternatives to policing and adding more mental health resources for students of color and communities surrounding the university, then shared the scanner audio with The TRiiBE.

Although the shooting is outside the bounds of UChicago’s campus, according to UCPD’s website, the university’s private police force —namely, UCPD — has jurisdiction that extends north to 37th Street, south to 64th Street, east to Lake Shore Drive and west to Cottage Grove Avenue. UCPD has the power to search, ticket, arrest and detain people. Since UCPD is a private force, it is not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. 

An investigation by both CPD and UCPD is underway. 

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

is a multimedia reporter for The TRiiBE.