Mayor Brandon Johnson said Martinez “bravely protected this city” and asked city residents to pray for his family and embrace the police department.

“This tragic loss cuts deep; the wound is serious, Johnson said, standing next to Snelling. “The only way we will get through this tragic loss is if we put our arms around each other and recognize the value, the bravery of our police department, who put their lives on the line for us every day.”

One of the occupants of the vehicle, who has not been identified, was also shot.

The alleged shooter ran from the vehicle after initially trying to drive away, Snelling said. He was taken into custody after a brief foot chase and search of the area, and the backseat passenger was also arrested.

Snelling said officers recovered a handgun from the person who was fatally shot inside the vehicle, along with another handgun with an extended magazine. After the shooting, an officer reported over the police radio that one of the vehicle’s occupants was armed with an “automatic weapon.”

Snelling said an officer also opened fire, though it was unclear who. The Office of Civilian Police Accountability is now investigating the shooting, which was captured on frantic police dispatches that were at times drowned out by screams and radio interference.

“We are transporting one (police officer) to the University of Chicago; he is hit,” an officer said. “Block the streets!”

The false shooting call came in a few minutes earlier

Minutes before the shooting, a woman reported shooting someone who tried to break into her 2017 Kia Soul in the 8200 block of South Ingleside Avenue, two blocks south of where Martinez was shot. An officer later radioed that the shooting was not “in good faith.”

The woman told the Sun-Times that she falsely reported a shooting after 911 dispatchers explained that a car break-in would not warrant an immediate police response.

The woman, 50, said officers arrived within minutes of the false report of the shooting, but Martinez was not among those who responded.

After a brief standoff, when the officers realized no one had been shot, the woman saw them speeding away and suddenly heard screaming and “rapid gunfire.”

“Throw it away!” the woman said the officers yelled repeatedly.

By late Tuesday morning, the block was quiet. Neighbor John Wilson, 62, expressed sympathy for Martinez’s family as he reflected on the “savage” shooting.

“I feel sorry for them. He was just doing his job,” said Wilson, who has lived in the area for more than two decades.

The inspector has a criminal record

On Monday night, plainclothes and uniformed officers gathered at the hospital where Martinez was taken. Some embraced; others were heard shouting.

Snelling said it’s impossible to “know what’s in store for our officers when they’re out there trying to keep the public safe.”

The suspect who remains in custody is a convicted felon who was placed on electronic monitoring in Will County. Snelling said the tracking device has been discontinued, but noted that police are still investigating.

The Will County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest last month, and he was charged with a felony count of allegedly attempting to fail a drug test, according to court records. At the time, the 23-year-old was already facing felony cannabis charges.

Chicago police arrested him Oct. 11 on the warrant, and he was later turned over to authorities in Will County, court records show. After he was released on electronic monitoring in the new case, Will County prosecutors sought to detain him pending trial on the cannabis charges. This case was continued on October 28.

He previously pleaded guilty to a felony charge of shooting into a vehicle in May 2021, court records show.

While incarcerated in that case, he was hit with additional felony charges stemming from the attack by a group of inmates on another inmate. He pleaded guilty to a battery charge that was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor on the same day as the other plea deal.

He was sentenced to four years in prison in the shooting, with 728 days served, as well as mandatory supervised release. He was given only fines and ordered to pay court costs in the other case, records show.

A spokesman for the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are cooperating with the state’s preliminary services office and the Chicago Police Department’s homicide investigation, but declined to comment further.

Snelling said officials need to do more to prevent “repeat offenders” from committing crimes.

“We cannot allow people to continue to wreak havoc in this city, to victimize people with violent crimes, robberies, shootings,” he said. “The trauma they cause to the families and the people they attack, I can never recover from.”

Union boss calls shooting ‘worst-case scenario’

John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he has “become almost numb” to the violence affecting police officers in Chicago.

“It’s part of the landscape, unfortunately,” Catanzara said.

He insisted the video showing the deadly encounter proved the delicate line officers had to go. In the video, an officer can be heard repeatedly ordering someone to “stop.”

“You’re going to get shot,” the officer says before a flurry of gunfire rings out. Catanzara said it’s another example of “how quickly things can go wrong.”

“This is the worst-case scenario of what a lot of idiots in this city and across the country think,” Catanzara said, referring to police officials, politicians and prosecutors, “that it looks like an officer has to be shot at started or shot and killed before he could return fire.”

He accused a crowd of public officials of “defaming the police” and said they shouldn’t bother attending Martinez’s funeral. The list included Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, COPA employees and all those who voted in favor of the SAFE-T Act criminal justice legislation.

“The only consideration should be what the wishes of the family are,” he said, noting that Martinez’s family members are also on the police force. “There is no protocol that says the mayor has to be at the funeral, no matter what this department says and tries to push the family.

“If the family decides they don’t want certain people there, that should be good enough.”