Edgar Delgado-Arroyo

Introduction

Edgar Delgado-Arroyo is a Chicago police officer who was stripped of his police powers after oversight investigators said he fired two guns during an off-duty shooting in Little Village that left a man wounded. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability says the off-duty officer opened fire following an argument in the 2600 block of West 26th Street early on October 4, 2026, then drove toward the 2300 block of South Rockwell Street and “fired additional shots from two firearms simultaneously” toward the initial encounter. The department relieved Delgado-Arroyo of his powers the following week and reassigned him to a unit for officers with disciplinary issues.

Background Information

Delgado-Arroyo serves as a Chicago police officer, and the October 2026 incident unfolded in Little Village, the Southwest Side neighborhood where, according to a law enforcement source cited by the Sun-Times, he had personal ties: his mother’s home had been struck by earlier gunfire, and his father was killed in a nearby shooting in July 2021. After the shooting, COPA opened an investigation into the conduct of the off-duty officer involved.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Alleged, under investigation. No criminal charges have been announced against Delgado-Arroyo. The account below comes from COPA statements and unnamed law-enforcement sources cited by the Sun-Times, and the claims have not been adjudicated.

According to COPA, the off-duty officer was driving in the 2600 block of West 26th Street early on October 4, 2026 when he encountered a group of people, got into an argument, and opened fire. He then drove toward the 2300 block of South Rockwell Street and fired additional shots from two firearms simultaneously in the direction of the initial encounter. A male was struck twice and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair condition. Police are investigating whether there was an exchange of gunfire after Delgado-Arroyo initially opened fire.

A law enforcement source told the Sun-Times that Delgado-Arroyo drove to the area after his mother reported that earlier gunfire had struck her home, and that the officer was on the phone with 911 when he was punched and subsequently opened fire. The source described the gunshot victim as a 24-year-old man associated with a street gang. Delgado-Arroyo did not respond to the Sun-Times’ request for comment. The department stripped him of his police powers on Tuesday, October 13, and assigned him to the Alternate Response Section — a unit composed of officers with disciplinary issues and others not medically cleared for full duty.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The department’s response came fast by Chicago standards: within roughly ten days of the shooting, COPA’s investigation had produced an account of an officer firing two weapons at once at a street scene, and the department had pulled the officer’s powers and benched him in the Alternate Response Section. The image of an off-duty officer firing two firearms simultaneously from a moving confrontation — while on the phone with 911, per the source account — made the case one of the most striking COPA referrals of the fall, and the wounding of a 24-year-old man guarantees the investigation’s findings will be scrutinized against any future criminal charging decision.

Current Status

Delgado-Arroyo remains a Chicago police employee, but without police powers, assigned to the Alternate Response Section while COPA’s investigation continues. No criminal charges have been filed, and no disciplinary charges are yet public; COPA’s findings — and whatever the department or prosecutors do with them — remain pending. The wounded man’s condition was reported as fair at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Being stripped of police powers and shunted to the Alternate Response Section is the department’s holding pattern for officers it no longer trusts with the street, and for Delgado-Arroyo it means his career is frozen at the intersection of a COPA investigation and a potential criminal file. The source account of the shooting — a mother’s home hit by gunfire, a father killed in 2021, a 911 call that ended with two guns firing toward a street confrontation — frames whatever COPA concludes, but the officers’ own account has not been heard publicly. Until the oversight agency rules, Delgado-Arroyo is a police officer in name with none of the authority of the job.

Sources

• Chicago Sun-Times, “Chicago cop accused of firing 2 guns during off-duty shooting is stripped of his police powers,” October 16, 2026 — source