Off-duty Chicago police officer found dead of apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound — second suicide in the department in a week

An off-duty Chicago police officer was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound Tuesday morning, less than a week after the apparent suicide of another officer.

The officer was found in a home on the West Side, according to police spokesman Tom Ahern. She had been on the force for five years and had been working as a tactical officer in the 1st District downtown.

No other details were released by the department.

More than a dozen suicides have been reported in the Chicago police department since 2018, at least seven this year.

This past summer, the department’s former mental health adviser had decried the practice of routinely canceling officers’ days off as “inhumane” and called for a sweeping plan to address psychological issues within the ranks. 

Police Supt. David Brown announced changes in late August aimed at giving officers more time off. The policy shift came just a day after Inspector General Deborah Witzburg issued a scathing report showing the department scheduled nearly 1,200 officers to work at least 11 straight days earlier this year. 

Within days of Brown’s announcement, an active officer and a recently retired cop both died by committed suicide.