A newly promoted Chicago police officer was found dead at a police facility Tuesday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Deputy Chief Dion Boyd, a 30-year veteran, had been promoted less than two weeks ago. He was found dead at the department’s Homan Square facility on the city’s West Side.
“I am extremely saddened to share with you today the loss of a respected member of our command staff to suicide,” Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said from police headquarters Tuesday afternoon. “We are shocked, saddened at the loss, and it’s deeply felt by me and the many colleagues and friends with whom Deputy Chief Dion Boyd worked and mentored throughout his career.”
Boyd, 57, was promoted to deputy chief of criminal networks, which focuses on gang and drug investigations, the Chicago Tribune reported. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.
Boyd’s body was taken to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office in a long procession.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot expressed her condolences via Twitter.
“We are truly at a loss of words by the death of Deputy Chief of Criminal Networks Dion Boyd, who passed away last night,” she wrote.
In a follow-up tweet, Lightfoot reminded the city’s police officers that “we want you to know that you are deserving of help and healing, and no one needs to struggle alone.”
If his death is ruled a suicide, Boyd would be the 10th Chicago police officer to die by suicide in two years. A 2017 review of the department by the Justice Department found its suicide rate was 60 percent higher than the national average.
Sources who recently met with Boyd said he was upbeat, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. However, those who knew him said he struggled with the death of one of his officers who was gunned down in 2018.
