A targeted or random attack?
At 6:33 p.m. Sunday, former Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard was shot in the chest in a stunning paintball attack while he watered his front yard outside his Chatham home.
A dramatic video of the Memorial Day incident, captured by a home security camera and obtained by Sneed, shows Hillard moving his garden hose from one section of his yard to another on a block full of neatly manicured lawns.
A car — which a source said was a red Kia — drives by, then slows down and comes to a stop as Hillard stands up and begins to turn toward the vehicle. A man then opens the front passenger-side door of the car and fires multiple shots, striking the former top cop in the right side of his chest.
The video captures Hillard, who had reportedly only been outside for 10 minutes before the attack, grunting as he was propelled off his feet by the force of the paintballs and sent on to his side and then on to his back on the ground, his legs flailing in the air as he grabbed his chest.
Hillard, the onetime bodyguard for Mayor Jane Byrne who later served as the city’s top cop from 1998 to 2003, told police he recovered fairly quickly from the fall, only to discover yellow paint on his chest instead of red blood. As he lay in pain on the ground, the car sped away.
Hillard, 78, reportedly refused medical attention after the shooting.
A source familiar with the incident claims if Hillard had been shot in the head instead of his body, the outcome could have been far worse.
A law enforcement source said police are investigating whether there were additional paintball attacks in the area.
Hillard, whose law enforcement career spanned decades, has been shot before.
On Feb. 14, 1975 — Valentine’s Day — Hillard was shot in the left wrist and right elbow while he was arresting a man wanted for assault as the man fled from the suburbs to the city.
After leaving the Chicago Police Department, Hillard co-owned a private security firm before returning to CPD as the interim top cop in 2011 after the departure of former FBI agent Jody Weis from the superintendent’s job and the hiring of New York cop Garry McCarthy.
Hillard, who has yet to comment publicly on the paintball incident, did issue a written statement via a spokesperson, stating: “He wants everyone to just be vigilant, be aware, and be safe.”
No kidding.
The video is terrifying.
