Image 1 of 3 ▼ Police investigate a shooting at a vacuum stall of the Fuller’s Express $3 Car Wash at 2146 S. Rockwell St. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

A sheriff's deputy shot and wounded a teenager who tried to steal his sports car Monday at a car wash in Little Village on the Southwest Side.

The man had just stepped out of his Corvette in a parking lot in the 2500 block of West Cermak when the teen approached and entered the vehicle, Chicago police said.

The 50-year-old man pulled out a handgun about 8:35 p.m. and fired shots at the 16-year-old, striking him in the shoulder, police said. The 50-year-old was an on-duty Cook County sheriff's deputy who was on his lunch break, according to a spokesperson for the Cook County sheriff's office.

The boy was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said.


The deputy was transported to Rush University Medical Center for shortness of breath, officials said.

Police recovered a weapon at the scene, although it was unclear whose it was, a police spokesman said.

After the shooting, police taped off a Corvette parked at a vacuum stall of the Fuller's Express $3 Car Wash at the intersection of Cermak and Rockwell.

A shell casing could be seen on the ground next to the vehicle's shattered driver's side window.