On July 30, 2024, off-duty Cook County Sheriff’s Deputy Rafael Wordlaw, 31, was fatally shot during an attempted armed robbery at a gas station in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. The shooting happened around 1:26 a.m. at the Clark Gas Station on the 500 block of East 67th Street. Wordlaw was in his car with his cousin when a gunman, later identified as Cordarrow Thompson, 32, approached and tried to rob them. A shootout followed; Thompson fired multiple rounds and Wordlaw was struck once in the chest after returning fire and wounding Thompson in the leg.

After being shot, Wordlaw drove about a half-mile before crashing into a pole in the 6700 block of South Indiana Avenue. He was taken to the University of Chicago Hospital and pronounced dead. Police say Thompson fired 69 rounds from two guns during the encounter and was charged with multiple felonies, including murder, attempted murder, and armed habitual criminal.

Wordlaw had served five years with the Cook County Sheriff’s Department and was a graduate of Urban Prep Academy and Indiana State University, where he studied criminal justice. Family and colleagues remembered him as a dedicated public servant. Funeral services were held on August 9, 2024, with visitation at Leak and Sons Funeral Home and services at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Harvey.

If anyone has information about the shooting or was at the gas station that night, please share what was seen or heard.