Jemel Roberson was working as an armed security guard at Manny’s Blue Room Bar in the Chicago suburb of Robbins early Sunday morning when he asked a group of intoxicated men to leave the bar. The men came back to the bar and one with a gun began shooting. The 26-year-old security guard fired back and caught one of the men outside of the bar. He had the suspect down on the ground at gunpoint when two Midlothian police officers responding to 911 calls arrived on the scene. One of the officers shot and killed Roberson.
“He had somebody on the ground with his knee in back, with his gun in his back like, ‘Don’t move,'” witness Adam Harris said.
Soon after, witnesses said, an officer responding to the scene fired at Roberson — killing him.
“Everybody was screaming out, ‘Security!’ He was a security guard,” Harris said. “And they still did their job, and saw a black man with a gun, and basically killed him.”
The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide and both officers have been placed on administrative leave. Roberson was studying to be a police officer. The NRA has yet to comment.
Federal lawsuit filed against Midlothian in fatal shooting of bar security guard (Sam Charles & Mitch Dudek/Chicago Sun-Times) (Photo: WGN-TV)