Chicago police officers hit and killed by train while chasing shooting suspect

Pair responding to reports of gun shots when they were struck by commuter service

Police investigate the scene where two officers were killed by a train in Chicago (AP)

Two US police officers have been killed by a train while chasing a shooting suspect in Chicago.

Eduardo Marmolejo, 37, and Conrad Gary, 31, were hit by the commuter train as they pursued a gunman who had headed towards railway tracks.

“There was no stop at that location so the train was probably going somewhere between 60 and 70 miles per hour,” said Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson.

The shooting suspect was later taken into custody and a weapon was recovered, he added.

Mr Marmolejo had been with the force for two-and-a-half years and Mr Gary had served for 18 months, the police superintendent said.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city had lost “two young men, both fathers with young families”.

“There are no words that can express the grief, the sense of loss. It just knocks you back on your heels,” he said.

Chicago police use so-called ShotSpotter technology, sensors that monitor for the sound of gunfire and alert police.

Mr Johnson said the two officers killed were responding to an alert about gunshots in the city’s south side on Monday evening.

“It just highlights again how dangerous this job can be. I often say that the most dangerous thing a police officer can do is take a weapon off of an armed individual,” he added.

The train that struck the officers at about 6.20pm was a commuter service on a line which runs between northern Indiana and Chicago.

In 2002, Chicago police officer Benjamin Perez was fatally struck by a commuter train while conducting surveillance on drug dealing on the city’s west side.

Two other Chicago officers have already been killed in the line of duty this year.

Officer Samuel Jimenez was shot dead last month after he chased a gunman at a hospital in the city’s south side.

The shooter also killed two other people – his ex-fiancé, who was an emergency room doctor, and a pharmaceutical assistant – before taking his own life.

In February, Chicago police commander Paul Bauer was shot dead while pursuing a suspect in a business district.

“I think it’s really important that we put our arms around the Chicago Police Department and hold them up and support them at this critical juncture, because we are so dependent on their professionalism and their sense of duty,” Mr Emanuel said.