Two Chicago police officers were shot and wounded late Tuesday when two vehicles pulled up alongside their car and someone started firing indiscriminately in what authorities believe was a targeted attack.

One officer was shot in the arm and hip and the other in the back, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson visited them at Stroger Hospital and said both were alert and expected to recover.

“We believe that the officers were definitely targeted,” Guglielmi told The Associated Press.

The shooting happened in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, a high crime area on the city’s South Side.

The officers were conducting a follow up investigation to a previous incident when two vehicles pulled up and those inside began firing. The officers were wearing civilian clothes at the time but had on vests with police badges on them, Guglielmi said.

A manhunt was underway for the suspects and Guglielmi said police were questioning three people of interest in the case. Police said they believe the officers were shot with a high powered weapon. Two guns and a vehicle have been recovered that police they believe are linked to the shooting.

Chris Villanueva, 36, said he was walking back to his car in a strip mall parking lot south of the shooting scene, when he heard about a dozen rapid-fire shots.

“I thought it was fireworks maybe, but around here you hear gunshots a lot,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Next thing, cops are everywhere.”
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