CITYOFCHI

CHICAGO - A Chicago police officer was fatally shot outside the Belmont Police headquarters early Wednesday. He had a 27-year career. A female suspect was also shot and wounded at the same North Side location.

Richard Francis, 60, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 2:57 a.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office stated.

Poilice News Affairs Officer David Banks says the fatal shooting happened right before 2 a.m. on Wednesday at the 3200 block of North Western Ave., in an intersection directly outside the police department's Belmont Area headquarters, where a detective division and police district are also located.

Francis, on routine patrol from District 19, was at the scene of a "disturbance" and approached a woman who is thought to have been involved. A struggle then ensued between the officer and the woman and she grabbed the officer’s service weapon and shot him, Police Superintendent Jody Weis said.

The woman also threatened responding officers, who then shot and wounded her. The woman was reported in stable condition on Wednesday morning.