An Illinois cop mistakenly shot and killed a black armed security guard – By Rex Santus (vice.com) / Nov 12 2018
A cop mistakenly shot and killed an armed security guard while responding to a shooting at a club in a Chicago suburb early Sunday.
Midlothian officials have released few details about the incident but confirmed that an armed security guard, 26-year-old Jemel Roberson, had been killed at Manny’s Blue Room Bar where at least four others had been shot. One of those four people is the suspected shooter. No other injuries are life-threatening.
“A Midlothian officer encountered a subject with a gun and was involved in an officer-involved shooting. The subject the officer shot was later pronounced deceased at an area hospital,” Chief Daniel Delaney said in a statement.
But Roberson, who is black, was apparently not the shooter. A witness said that Roberson had apprehended a possible shooter and police erroneously killed him.
“Everybody was screaming out, ‘Security!’ He was a security guard,” witness Adam Harris told a local news station. “And they still did their job, and saw a black man with a gun, and basically killed him.”
The police department said that the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force will investigate the shooting.
Roberson was an active member of his church in Chicago, New Spiritual Light Baptist Church, where he played the organ.
“How in the world does the security guard get shot by police?” asked the church’s pastor, Walter Turner, told ABC 7 news. “A young man that was literally doing his job, and now he’s gone.”
