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player ready...A 55-year-old Lombard man was charged Thursday with three counts of attempted murder after being accused shooting one police officer in the shoulder and injuring two others when they tried to interview him about a robbery at an Osco pharmacy.
At about 4:30 p.m., the three officers went to Yorktown Condominium Homes in the 2200 block of South Grace Street to talk to Paul J. Grygo. They knocked on the door repeatedly, but he refused to answer, police said.
Suddenly, Grygo opened the door and allegedly began firing at the officers, shooting five to six times, according to police. He hit one, a 13-year veteran who was wearing a protective vest, in the left shoulder, according to DuPage County State’s Atty. Joseph Birkett.
The other officers returned fire, but did not hit Grygo, police said. They dragged the injured officer down the hallway to safety, then returned to the condominium and ordered Grygo to put his gun down. He did, and he was taken into custody, Lombard Police Chief Raymond Byrne said.
“They are true heroes,” Byrne said of the officers.
The officers’ names were not released.
Earlier in the day, Grygo allegedly stole a bottle of liquor from the Osco and fled in a vehicle to his home, Birkett said. He was intoxicated at the time of the shooting and “emptied his gun” at the officers, Birkett said.
Grygo did not have a valid state registration card for his .38-caliber handgun, he said.
“He just loaded a gun and came out firing,” Birkett said. “He was trying to prevent himself from being taken into custody.”
The 13-year police veteran is hospitalized in Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, but his condition is not life-threatening, said Byrne and Birkett. The other two officers were treated and released.