A highly respected endocrinologist was fatally shot in what authorities are calling a domestic incident at a Barrington, Illinois, home Sunday evening, after which a suspect was arrested and a small child was removed from the premises.
A 42-year-old woman from Vernon Hills named Dr. Olga Duchon had just come back from speaking at a meeting of a Ukrainian medical group in Wheeling that afternoon when she tragically died, shocking everyone in the neighborhood.
When police got to the 400 block of West Russell Street, they found Duchon bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest. They did not know what happened. They took her to the hospital, but she died there from her injuries.
A man was arrested outside the house on Sunday night, and police also took a child away from the scene. According to Duchon’s neighbors, he shared a 2-year-old daughter with the man who was said to live there.
Residents of the neighborhood were shocked and upset. It shocked Alex Paretes, a neighbor, who also said, “It does not happen in Barrington; it is very strange.”
Next-door neighbor Juliana Etling said she did not hear a gunshot but did hear a toddler crying that night.
“My husband heard what I think was their daughter crying and being upset, which is something we do not hear very often.” He thought that was strange. “Not long after that, the police started showing up,” Etling said.
The Barrington Police Department said they are “treating the shooting as a case rooted in domestic issues” and told the public there is no threat to the public. The tragic events that led to the investigation are still being looked into.
The police have not said for sure if anyone is still being held, and they have not brought any charges in this ongoing investigation. It is still being looked into by the Cook County Major Crimes Task Force.
Northwestern Medicine said in a statement, “Dr. Duchon left our health system last summer (2023).”
She stayed with our organization, though, as a medical staff member, and she continued to treat patients on her own. We are hearing about this terrible event in real time, and it breaks our hearts. We are sorry for her family’s loss during this hard time.
Dr. Maria Hrycelak from the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America also said something hours after hearing Duchan speak at the conference that summed up how many people felt.
“She knows what to do.” She knew her stuff and was nice. It was just a shock. Oh my God, this girl we talked to yesterday. He said, “I shook her hand, and she is gone now.”
CBS says that Dr. Duchon, a private practitioner from Mundelein, left an indelible mark on the people she helped.
“She treated me for years,” Virginia Doucet, a former patient, said in a heartfelt gift. “I was close to like having my organs failing, and she saw all the symptoms for what they were—instead of like turning me away.”
