Family members said he had been visiting his mother, who lives nearby, and was headed to his home in Bronzeville about two miles away.



The shooting occurred after bicycle officers were told by someone that a man was "acting erratically" in the park, according to police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, speaking outside the hospital. Officers went to the park and found Love on his cellphone.



The officers asked him to get off the phone and talk to them, but instead he reached into a backpack and started firing, Johnson said. The officers returned fire, hitting the man, Johnson said.



The wounded officer was able to apply a tourniquet to his leg with the help of his partner, probably saving his life, Johnson said. The officer had received training in emergency medical treatment, Johnson said.



The wounded officer is a 17-year veteran of the force assigned to bike patrol in the Central District, Johnson said.



"People like to second-guess, but these officers have a split second to decide whether to use deadly force," Johnson said.



At the scene, several squad cars, marked and unmarked, sat in the street near the park, which was cordoned off in yellow tape. The area of 18th Street and Calumet Avenue in the historic Prairie Avenue District is dotted with townhomes and some high-rises.



A police command van sat at 18th and Calumet, where a police-issued light truck also sat, shining a white beam onto the a grassy area of the park.



Uniformed officers and detectives could be seen in the park. Detectives were also seen walking through a nearby tunnel, which leads to a Metra train station and Soldier Field.



Bicyclists traveled through the tunnel as pouring rain, strong wind gusts and booming thunder hit the area. Two soaking wet, uniformed officers sought refuge in the tunnel, checking out their cellphones as large puddles started to form.



On Calumet before the rain, several onlookers, including one with a dog, gazed at the police activity. Pat Christophersen and her daughter, Carly, were among the small crowd. They curiously walked down the block from their high-rise.



Pat Christophersen said her son and his girlfriend had just left her building, rode their bicycles toward the park and saw someone lying on the ground.



She said lots of people walk their dogs around there, including her. That's where she usually takes her boxer, Molly. She's also used to seeing lots of police officers around, as well as Bears fans walking to and from Soldier Field.



Aside from warnings she's received from her building about garage burglaries in the neighborhood, she knows the shooting of the officer was an isolated incident.



With the recent shootings of police officers all over the country, Christopherson, 60, said that Thursday night's shooting couldn't have come at a worse time.



"The cops are here to protect us," Chistophersen said, as blue lights from a nearby squad car flickered on her face. "They're not here to be on the defensive."



Dozens of police officers were outside Northwestern Memorial in the immediate aftermath following the shooting, with a number of them leaving before 9 p.m.