Mother-Of-One: Officer Fatally Struck During Attempted Stop And Frisk In Chicago

A Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer was killed by friendly fire late Thursday while she and her colleague chased a man suspected of being armed, authorities said Friday.

Krystal Rivera, 36, and her police team attempted to conduct a Terry stop on an individual they suspected was armed, CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters. The suspect fled, and the officers pursued him into a nearby apartment — where another person armed with a rifle confronted the officers, according to Snelling. An officer opened fire, and Rivera was struck.

The vehicle that tried to transport Rivera to the hospital malfunctioned and caught fire, forcing her to be transferred to another vehicle, Snelling said.

Rivera succumbed to the gunshot injury while in the hospital, according to Snelling. She was a four-year police veteran and is survived by her mother and very young daughter, he said.

The two suspects fled the building, but backup police units later apprehended them and several others. The police also found three weapons in the building, Snelling added.

Snelling praised Rivera as a “young, vibrant, and a hard worker” who was “working extremely hard to get guns off the street to save lives” and was recognized by all on her team. He added that before earlier that day Rivera had already confiscated two guns. “She was a working police officer trying to keep the streets safe” while braving “the risk that our officers take every single day,” Snelling said.

“This happens way too often,” Snelling said of the fatal shooting.

Highlighting the hazards of policing in Chicago, Snelling told reporters, “[I]t’s always possible that when you’re doing this kind of work, you may not return home.” (RELATED: Chicago Shootings Include At Least 26 Victims Over Single Weekend)

Mayor Brandon Jackson told reporters that all of Chicago was “grieving and mourning together over the tragic loss of one of Chicago’s finest.” He called for support for Rivera’s colleague “who acted bravely and swiftly” following the friendly fire incident.

“I want to assure that our police department has everything that it needs in order to render justice,” Jackson said.

There have been 513 shootings on record across Chicago so far in 2025, according to the city’s crime data. The city ranks among the least safe cities in the U.S. in 2024, WGN TV News reported, citing a study.

The CPD has 25 districts. The 6th District, where the incident occurred, is one of 11 districts with three-figure recorded shooting incidents in 2024 and one of only two with over 200 such incidents, according to the city’s crime data.

Murders on record have seen a five-year decline since 2021, but misdemeanor theft has been rising across the same period.

The total number of crimes in Chicago as of June 1, standing at 36,576, has already surpassed the total number of crimes there in 2021 (25,311 incidents) and 2022 (34,001 incidents), the city’s crime data shows.