Illinois Attack Kills Two, Wounds Three Including Two Officers

July 13--Two people were killed and three others injured, including two police officers, when a domestic fight escalated into an ambush against the officers in River Forest over the weekend, authorities said.

Police were called to a home in the 100 block of Lathrop Avenue in the western suburb shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday after a woman who was out of breath called 911, police said.

Unable to understand what she was saying, a dispatcher sent officers to the house and they "were ambushed by an armed assailant with a shotgun," according to River Forest Deputy Police Chief James O'Shea.

One officer, a 15-year veteran, was hit in his bulletproof vest, O'Shea said. Another officer, a five-year veteran, also was injured. Both are expected to recover. The man with the shotgun was killed, and O'Shea said he may have been hit by police fire and may have shot himself.

Police discovered two more gunshot victims inside the home, a 60-year-old man who was found dead and a 59-year-old woman who was taken to a hospital. The two apparently were shot before officers arrived, O'Shea said.

The dead were identified by the Cook County medical examiner's officer as William S. Carlson, 60, and Matthew Watson, 24. Both lived in the home.

O'Shea said Watson was related to the woman who was wounded in the home.

"This is a very traumatic event not just for the village of River Forest, but for the Police Department to have two of our own injured," O'Shea said.

He said the shootings are being investigated by the River Forest and Oak Park police departments, as well as the Illinois State Police and the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Other agencies reporting to the scene included the Forest View, Franklin Park, Stickney, Berwyn, River Grove and Maywood police departments.

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