A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner reported today that Johnny Goodwin, the 22-year-old man who was fatally wounded by police early Wednesday morning, was shot in the back.

The autopsy revealed a single gunshot wound in the "lateral back." After the incident, the police department said Goodwin was running toward the officer who shot him.

Neither the Medical Examiner's Office nor a police spokeswoman could immediately explain the apparent contradiction between the autopsy results and police statements about the shooting.

Yesterday, a police spokesman gave the following account of the incident:

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, two plainclothes police officers driving westbound on 82nd street observed Johnny Goodwin walking down the street with something tucked in his waistband.

Goodwin fled when he saw the officers, who followed him into an alley and pursued him on foot. Goodwin eluded the officers by hiding in the stairwell of a house on the 8100 block of South Morgan Street, where one of the officers eventually found him with a gun in his hand.

The officer told Goodwin to drop the weapon. Instead Goodwin began running toward the officer with his gun pointed at him.

The officer fired at Goodwin, killing him.