A police officer shot and killed a security guard outside of a bar in south suburban Chicago early Sunday.
The victim, Jemel Roberson, was at Manny's Blue Room when gunfire opened around 4 a.m., according to Chicago news station WGN9.
Officers from several south suburban police departments responded to a call of shots fired. While attempting to identify the suspect, a Midlothian police officer shot the guard. Roberson, 26, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, according to Sophia Ansar, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.
Security reportedly asked a group of drunk men to leave the bar early Sunday. From there, someone returned with a firearm and began shooting. According to bystanders, armed security guard Roberson apprehended one of the men involved outside.
"He had somebody on the ground with his knee in back with his gun in his back like, 'don’t move,'" witness Adam Harris recalled.
It wasn't long before witnesses say an officer fired at Roberson after arriving on the scene.
"Everybody was screaming out, 'he was a security guard,' and they basically saw a Black man with a gun and killed him," Harris continued.
Four other individuals involved in the shooting, including the shooter, suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Midlothian police confirmed two officers from the department arrived at the scene of the shooting, and one of them opened fire.
"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 Delaney of the Midlothian Police Department said in a statement.
Roberson, who dreamed of becoming a police officer, played keyboard and drums at several Chicago-area churches.
"Every artist he's ever played for every musician he's ever sat beside, we're all just broken because we have no answers," lamented Pastor Patricia Hill of Purposed Church. "He was getting ready to train and do all that stuff, so the very people he wanted to be family with took his life."
"Once again it’s the continued narrative that we see of shoot first, ask questions later," said Pastor LeAundre Hill, also of Purposed Church.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Cook County Sheriff's Office personnel are handling the investigation of the shooting, and the Illinois State Police is handling the investigation of the Midlothian police officer's actions.
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