Off-duty officer commits suicide outside Southwest Side home, Chicago police say

Another Chicago police officer has died in an apparent suicide over the weekend, adding to the increasing number of such incidents among the city's law enforcement. The 47-year-old off-duty officer was found unresponsive in a parked vehicle near his home in the Ashburn neighborhood on Saturday evening and was later pronounced dead. The Cook County medical examiner's office has not released the autopsy results pending a police investigation. The Chicago Police Department confirmed the officer's death in a statement on Sunday, expressing condolences to the officer's family and asking for support for the department during this tragedy. Recent records and city officials indicate that over a dozen officers have died by suicide since 2018, which some attribute to the rising crime rates, staffing shortages, increased overtime, low morale, and high levels of stress among police officers. Last year, over 1,000 officers worked 11 or more consecutive days during the spring, highlighting the challenges facing the Chicago Police Department.